Dimension Crisis
by BakuryuuTyranno
Summary: A strange machine causes reality to be distorted. This is a crossover with many horror movies. Also, I don't write canon characters, so nobody from the actual Zoids anime or manga will be appearing. The setting is similar to seasons 3 and 4 though.
1. Chapter 1

Warning: The quality of the first two sections is probably much lower than the rest of this will be. There is a lot of "rambling" by various people, but I guess people in horror movies ramble about things nobody cares about and this is a crossover with many horror movies. Most of the first two sections of this fanfic were written when I was half-asleep. The main premise doesn't actually start until the third section.

Zoids – Dimension Crisis

On a random street where everybody was trying to move out of the way, there was a green lion Zoid running down the street. This was a Slash Liger. Attached right in front of the Slash Liger's cockpit was the reason the pilot found it so urgent to run. This was only a peace of paper, but it had brought sleepless nights and untold terrors to those unlucky enough to receive one. To those few people brave enough to speak its name, it was called a parking ticket.

'This is the worst thing that's ever happened in my life!' The pilot, who was known as James, who was possibly one of the most skilled pilots of the Crusade Team, thought, 'The amount of money needed to pay for this, this _thing_, will be far more than I had ever imagined! This is worse than that time I got stuck on that time with Zoids that were blatantly, by far, inferior to my Liger!'

"Could you try to think more quietly?" A telepathic person demanded as the Slash Liger ran past him, almost trampling him to death.

'What the Hell was that?' James thought. Suddenly he heard other noises. A Gojulas Giga and two regular Gojulas were chasing him; they had police sirens attached to their backs, their noses, their tails, and one of the regular Gojulas had bulldozer blades attached to its feet. As people watched in pity it tripped over its own feet and crashed to the ground, landing on the tail of the second Gojulas, causing it to roar in agony and collapse. However, the Gojulas Giga wouldn't stop and kept chasing the Slash Liger.

"I don't know why you won't sign that, that _thing_, but you'll never escape from the police and the fact that we all use Gojulases or variants of them, for absolutely no reason when there's no reason not to use any other kind of Zoid!" The police officer in the Gojulas Giga shouted.

"Wait, does that mean that even police officers are scared of naming that _thing_?" James demanded, "And, why can't you use other kinds of Zoids that are not only cheaper and would decrease taxes, but would actually make it easier to catch criminals!"

"Maybe that's what you would think, _Jervis, _but from what some woman claimed that she heard that _Jervis_ was the name of this criminal we're trying to find." The police officer stated.

"Well, given that my name is James I don't need to be concerned!" James shouted back.

"I still think it was you, you and your blue Zoid!" The police officer continued, "That woman saw a blue Zoid watching her house."

"Well, my Zoid is green!" James shouted back.

"The colour of your Zoid is not important, Jervis!" The police officer shouted, "Based on this evidence, I think you're Herbert!"

"Don't you mean, you think I'm the pervert that was outside that house?" James asked.

"Oh yeah, thanks." The officer replied, "Based on the evidence, I think you're the pervert!" James's brain tried to come up with a response…

"Don't worry brain, I'll handle this." James said to himself, before turning to the officer, "Yes… well... based on the evidence, I think you're the pervert!"

'Oh sure, that's going to work.' James thought to himself, when the Gojulas Giga stopped suddenly and turned back.

"Everyone, this crime has been solved; I've found that I _am_ the pervert!" The police officer shouted, not realising what had happened.

"Good thing Jervis found that out!" The officer added.

"My name is James!" James responded angrily as his Liger sped out of sight. James then thought, 'Maybe when he realises that he isn't the criminal, he might actually find the pervert… whoever that is. Then again, he doesn't even know the colour of a Zoid that's right in from of him."

"James, what has happened?" The voice of Jake, who piloted the Crusade Team's Hover Cargo, asked through the radio systems.

"For some reason, a squadron of mental police officers believed that I was responsible for something that I can't remember what it was now." James replied, "Fortunately, they have left."

"I'm guessing it was related to that time when someone found a hole in their gigantic fence which was exactly the same size and shape as a Slash Liger." Jake replied, "Although, I'm surprised that hasn't been resolved by now."

"Actually, it was exactly the same size and shape of a Blade Liger." James pointed out, "It was that moron from the Decalto Team, Colin, I think his name is. Because we know nobody else in this city has a Blade Liger… except seventy other people."

"There can't be exactly seventy other people who have Blade Ligers." Jake said through the radio, "I've barely seen any Blade Ligers in this city and I don't think everyone with a Blade Liger would attempt to hide them."

"Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating and there's really about seven other people who have Blade Ligers." James said, "But, everywhere I go, there seem to be Blade Ligers… okay, actually I've only seen one outside of a battle twice."

"Somehow, I get the idea you're determined to exaggerate everything." Jake said, "But I wouldn't be surprised. Anyway, that hole in the fence was exactly the same shape and size of a Slash Liger."

"Yes, but a Slash Liger couldn't have caused that hole because I have the only Slash Liger in the city." James replied, "And it was obvious that it was a Blade Liger that made that hole!"

"It must have been a Slash Liger." Jake tried to reason, "The hole in the fence was in the shape of something that had parts that Blade Ligers don't have, hence, it must have been a Slash Liger."

"Well, that is true." James agreed, "However, it was a Blade Liger with cardboard blades attached to its face. It's obvious because if you compared the hole in that wall to a Slash Liger, the blades on the head would be bent."

"I was wondering why a Slash Liger's blades would bend." Jake replied, "Anyway, we're supposed to be travelling to the bases of two other teams. We're supposed to transport them to…"

"I know." James said. James pressed a button and the communications were cut off. Immediately, James wondered why he cut the communications, since he was returning to the Hover Cargo anyway.

"Well, at least now I don't have to listen to any conversations about that time when I accidentally made my Slash Liger run through a giant fence." James said to himself, as the Slash Liger began to run again.

Not surprisingly, James was expecting to return to the Hover Cargo without anything happening in the process. However, the Slash Liger suddenly began to fall. Seconds later, James realised that he still seemed to be falling.

A random place that may or may not be near a forest-

Several people were standing around a tar pit. The reason they were standing around it was unknown, because it was a regular tar pit and nothing had fallen into it and sunk in decades.

Near that tar pit, a much smaller group of people stood, staring at another tar pit, which the Slash Liger had fallen into. By the time they had arrived, James was standing several meters away from the tar pit, so exactly how he escaped was unknown. But if he jumped off the top of the Slash Liger's head, then he probably would have still fallen into the tar pit and would have sunk by now, because nearly half of the Slash Liger was submerged.

"I don't understand. There's nothing here." One of the people standing around the first tar pit announced, "I know there's supposed to be something happening, but I don't know what it is."

"It's almost as if something is happening right now, and we can't quite understand what it is." Another of the people standing around the first tar pit said, "I don't know if we'll ever find out what happened."

"It's very strange, but we'll find out what's going on eventually." A third person standing around the tar pit realised, "We can't stand here forever and not find out what it is."

"I think the people over there are mental." One of the people standing around the second tar pit said, "They don't even realise that they're standing at the wrong tar pit even though that should be obvious."

"I think that Slash Liger isn't going to escape." Someone else standing near the second tar pit stated, "Once someone drove 10,000 Gojulases into the same tar pit and never found any of them."

"They drove 10,000 Gojulases into the same tar pit and never found any of them?" The first person asked, "Well, to be completely honest, I find that surprising. Were they the richest and most insane person on the planet?"

"Well, the fact is that they actually didn't drive them, they threw them. And they were action figures of Gojulases. And the person who threw them didn't throw ten thousand, they actually threw ten." The second person explained.

"I still don't understand why that would happen." The first person said, "I also don't know why they tried to find those Gojulases when there was essentially no chance of ever finding them."

"Well, it's because that person was me! And I'm going to find those action figures if it costs me my life!" The second person shouted, before diving into the tar pit. Several minutes passed and nobody surfaced.

"I don't think he was thinking clearly." James said, mostly to himself. James was trying to think of a way to prevent the Slash Liger from sinking without anyone realising that it was his Zoid.

"Well, now nobody can save the action figures." A random person said, "Not that anyone cares. But how is that Slash Liger going to avoid sinking into the tar pit? If it sinks, then it's possible that nobody could remove it."

"Yes, but if it sinks, then anything that sinks into that tar pit in the future won't be able to sink as deep, and some part of it may be left above the surface." The voice of the person who dived into the tar pit said.

"It's weird, we can hear someone's voice, but that person probably didn't have an air tank when they leapt into that tar pit and they've been there for too long to still be alive." James said.

"While you may think someone who just jumped into a tar pit probably didn't have an air tank when they leapt into that tar pit and they've been there for too long to still be alive, this is only a recording!" A tape recorder said.

"Why would anyone make a recording of themselves saying things and then jump into a tar pit and kill themselves?" One of the people staring at the first tar pit asked, surprised.

"Well, I can't really be sure." Another of the people at the first tar pit said, "But since I didn't actually see anything happening, I'll just imagine that they didn't kill themselves."

"That is a good idea." Yet another of the people staring at the wrong tar pit said, "But now that we know we're assuming they didn't kill themselves, what will happen now?"

"I think those people are crazy." James said, "Although, whoever the pilot of that Slash Liger is, I don't know why he's leaving his Slash Liger to sink into the tar pit and never be found."

"Yes, that is very strange." The tape recording said, "But unless someone kicks over this tape recorder, which is never going to happen, I will continue to talk as if I'm alive and not just a tape recorder."

"Whoever recorded that must have been able to see into the future." James stated, "But then he would know that he was going to kill himself and not dive into a tar pit. This situation doesn't make sense."

"I understand what's going on." One of the people near James said, "Well actually that's a lie, I have no idea… wait, aren't you the only person in this city who has a Slash Liger?"

"I think it's obvious that I'm _not_." James said, "I wouldn't just leave my Slash Liger to sink into a tar pit, leaving only its head submerged above the top of the tar pit, like it is now."

"I think he is the pilot of the only Slash Liger in this city!" Yet another person staring at the wrong tar pit said, "But isn't it strange that the Slash Liger I'm not looking at isn't sinking anymore?"

"By the time I reach this point, the Slash Liger will have fallen on the remains of the person who made this tape, which happen to be exactly big enough to prevent the Slash Liger's head from submerging." The tape recording said.

"There's something very strange happening." One of the other people staring at the second tar pit realised, "Why couldn't he just contact the Slash Liger's pilot if he knew this would happen?"

"It's true that if he contacted me, none of this would have happened. I could have just not run into a tar pit." James said, accidentally admitting that he was the Slash Liger's pilot.

"There is a very good reason for this series of events!" The voice on the tape recording said, "See, there's a reason I killed myself, and that reason is…" The recorder ran out of tape.

"That's definitely very random." James stated. "But, I think someone should probably inform the police of the strange events that happened here, or that Slash Liger will stay in the tar pit forever."

A random place that may or may not be near a forest, later-

After several minutes, two Gordos and a Geno Saurer had arrived. These had been sent to retrieve the Slash Liger that had fallen into the tar pit, but there was no mention of anything else.

"Wait, you're only here to get a kind of weird metal lion thing out of the tar pit?" One of the people who had been watching the wrong tar pit asked, 2But what about the action figures?"

"Well see, that's part of the problem, the police aren't supposed to look for action figures, and to be honest, even if we were, we still wouldn't, because action figures are badly-made." The first Gordos pilot said.

"Aside from which, action figures are kind of pointless. Well they are made of plastic, which is something of a disadvantage but to make things worse for them they're also rubbish." The second Gordos pilot said.

"Although I want my Slash Liger taken out of that tar pit, don't you think that's harsh considering someone died trying to find those action figures?" James asked, 2At least you could locate his body."

"Well, I'm very sorry that you think we're wasting our time, but if you suggest we're wasting our time again, maybe we won't even bother to rescue that Slash Liger!" The first Gordos pilot shouted.

"These two are the worst new officers we've ever had." The Geno Saurer pilot announced, "I'm sorry for any inconvenience caused by their arrogant stupidity but…"

"We're stupidly arrogant? But you look down on us!" The first Gordos pilot shouted, "Maybe we're not good enough for the police force and we should just leave and stop irritating people!"

"Yes, maybe we should just leave in the middle of an assignment!" The second Gordos pilot shouted, "I bet that would really strike you as stupid and arrogant. Then what will happen?"

"Well, firstly, you would be fired." The Geno Saurer pilot said, "And not in the normal way either. I mean I would set you on fire, fire you out of a cannon, and fire my Geno Saur's cannons at you."

"I think you're trying too hard to be threatening." The second Gordos pilot said, "I mean, I know you're our commanding officer, but why are you always giving us commands?"

"Could you move the Slash Liger now?" James asked, "I know you're eagerly talking about nothing, but if the corpse of that dead guy is crushed nobody will be able to save my Slash Liger!"

"Well, I guess you have a point there." The commanding officer said, "Okay everyone, how exactly are we supposed to move a Slash Liger out of that tar pit? I can't reach it."

"Well, we haven't had a situation like this before, but maybe our Gordos could pull the Geno Saurer back while it uses its extending claws to hold onto the Slash Liger. It works well because we were planning to trip your Geno Saurer over, so our Zoids' tails are already wrapped around the Geno Saurer's feet."

"That might actually work, assuming we leave out the tripping over part." The commanding officer said.

A random place that may or may not be near a forest, later-

After several minutes, the Slash Liger had, unsurprisingly, been removed from the tar pit. Most of the people had left, including many people who had been staring at the wrong tar pit the whole time.

"I still think that person shouldn't have jumped into a tar pit." One of the few people standing around the tar pit said, "Just because he lost some action figures, wasn't a good reason for killing himself."

"I don't think he should have killed himself at all." The pilot of the second Gordos said, "But can we move on from this. It's just insane and we'll never know why he killed himself."

"I know, the tape ran out of tape." The pilot of the first Gordos said, "If this continues, we'll be the worst cops in history. Honestly, this is the first thing we've done right."

"I don't think we're doing things right at all." The pilot of the second Gordos said, "There's a guy who just killed himself… or herself... this thing, I think it's called a "script", doesn't specify."

"Well that's an interesting thing. It looks like a bunch of pieces of paper stapled together. But since I'm too lazy to exit this cockpit I won't be able to see it more clearly." The pilot of the first Gordos said.

"Well, that may be a problem, but I think you should see this thing at some time. It's almost as if it's _predicting the future_ or something. We should have this thing analyzed." The pilot of the second Gordos said.

"Maybe it's possessed by the ghost of something, like a penguin or a poodle. We have to find the answer!" The pilot of the first Gordos shouted. Two Gordos turned around and ran away.

"Those have to be the stupidest cops I've ever seen." The one person who was still staring at the wrong tar pit announced, "I don't know what's going on, but there's a lot of stupidity about."

"Well, I don't see this happening often, or at least, not once I find some competent people to be police officers." The sheriff, who was the pilot of the Geno Saurer, tried to explain.

"Well, I guess I shouldn't stand here, if I hadn't made this Slash Liger run into a tar pit then none of this would have happened. Not that very much actually happened." James said.

"Although there has been a lot of chaos caused by this weirdness, I think we should probably forget this, well, once we recover that person who leapt into the tar pit and is hopefully still alive." The sheriff replied.

"Well, I guess nothing much happens around here, but we've already recovered seven of those ten action figures of Gojulases. Whatever they're supposed to be worth." One of the people in the shrinking crowd said.

"They could be the answer to finding out why that person leapt into a tar pit." James said, "But, as I said before, I should probably leave here now, before something stupidly insane happens!"

"I don't know what you're talking about, because I haven't seen anything happening!" The one remaining person staring at the wrong tar pit shouted. The Slash Liger ran away from the area, but as it ran a snail overtook it.

A random base-

"We have an urgently important mission." The leader of a squadron of ZBC pilots announced, "It seems that this mysterious bunker, is in reality something that has an unknown purpose."

"Is it really that important?" Gordon, the pilot of a Mad Thunder, asked, "Is it a bunker that contains dynamite? Because if we blew that up, it wouldn't remain mysterious for very long."

"Why would I send someone to blow up that bunker if there was dynamite in it?" The Sergeant demanded, "At any rate, it contains something vitally important… well, something it's vitally important that we blow up."

"Is it something that causes Tomy, Hasbro and other companies to release recolours of Zoids at the start of every production line?" Gordon asked, "Then if we blew it up, we won't have to face a million Shield Liger and Konig Wolf recolours."

"That would be very useful, but no." The Sergeant said, "Anyway, since you're too eager to blow up Command wolves and Blade Ligers-"

"It was Konig Wolves and Shield Ligers." Gordon interrupted.

"Well anyway, it's stupid." The Sergeant replied.

"Did that even make sense?" A soldier known as Karl asked.

"No, but anyway, we need to prepare to attack the bunker with everything we have. Carl, prepare to attack!" The Sergeant said.

"At once." Karl replied.

"Not you, someone called Carl!" The Sergeant shouted!

"But I am Karl!" Karl said.

"I think he means me!" A soldier called Carl stated.

"Why couldn't we attach dynamite to it and blast it apart?" Gordon asked, wondering why they couldn't just destroy the bunker already.

"We tried that once." Carl stated, "But then a few Cannon Tortoises chased us. Well, the kind of staggered towards us. We weren't sure if they were doing it to be intimidating or because it was the fastest they could move. Anyway, thinking that their purpose was to guard the bunker, we had to leave it at once, in order to save our own lives. I don't even remember if we left the dynamite attached to it or not, it's so confusing. Everything happened in a rush, well actually, rather slowly."

"I'm not surprised." Karl said, "Well anyway, I don't see why we have to get chased by Cannon Tortoises."

"Right. This is going nowhere. There are two people called Carl... well, Carl and Karl, and I need to…" The Sergeant said.

"Why can't we be on this mission?" Carl asked.

"There's no chance we'd fail!" Karl shouted.

"Because it confuses me too much. Anyway, we need to find a way to blow it up before the CBZ." The Sergeant announced, "For one thing, if the CBZ destroys the bunker, then they'll have destroyed the dark secrets it holds, which, it's rumoured, involves an Arosaurer in some way. Well, an Arosaurer and a Death Stinger, if that makes any sense."

"It doesn't." Gordon announced, "Anyway, why am I a rank-and-file soldier? We all know that my Mad Thunder could destroy an army of Godos and Iguans and even a flying army of Pteras."

"Well, for one, that overconfidence." The sergeant announced, "But since I'm gradually eliminating everyone here from having any chance of destroying the bunker, I'll just ask if one of the elite soldiers can blast it instead."

"Good-" Carl began.

"If you say, 'Good idea, sir; you're fired!" The Sergeant shouted.

"I understand." Karl said.

The Crusade Team's Hover Cargo-

James and his Slash Liger had finally entered the hover Cargo, despite the Slash Liger moving exceptionally slowly. The rest of the Crusade Team consisted of Jake, the pilot of the Crusade Team's transport, Deirdre, the flight expert on the Crusade team, Nick, who was a field medic, Lauren, who was an engineering expert, Cheryl, who was a weapons expert for the Crusade Team, Ted, who was a strategist, and Randy, who… well, they had heard it was possible to transport seven Zoids on a Hover Cargo, and in order to find out if it was really true, they had had to get another pilot to join their team. Not surprisingly, they had ended up with possibly the worst Zoid pilot in history.

The Slash Liger had entered a transportation section in the Hover Cargo's head. Next to the Slash Liger was the Giga Gojulas, which was piloted by Lauren. At the back of the Hover Cargo was another transportation area, where Deirdre's Jet Falcon, Randy's Killer Dome, Nick's Gylvader and Cheryl's Snipe Liger were transported. Ted and his Dark Spiner had left some time ago, but because the Hover Cargo didn't _have_ the ability to transport seven Zoids, one Zoid would have to stand on the launch ramp at all times. Not surprisingly, this was something that annoyed most of the Crusade Team. If Jake had never tried to find a way to transport seven Zoids this would never have happened.

James again climbed out of the Slash Liger cockpit. Although he wasn't entirely certain why he had to return to the Hover Cargo, he was certain he would find out once he entered one of the room not used for transportation.

James opened a door and left the transportation room, after which he found himself on the Hover Cargo's neck. Despite using the head to transport the Slash Liger since the Crusade Team formed, James knew he was unlikely to ever think of this as 'normal'.

Shortly afterwards, James entered the main section of the Hover Cargo. Eventually, he reached what was generally considered to be the 'command room', which was not the Hover Cargo's cockpit, because the cockpit was too small to transport eight people. Despite various events that had happened since the Crusade Team formed, nobody had ever been able to convince Jake to replace his Hover Cargo with something designed to transport more people.

"James has finally returned." Nick said immediately, "Now we have to explain everything _again_. I don't know why, but Jake couldn't wait for everyone to return to the Hover Cargo."

"I don't have to wait for everyone to arrive." Jake said, "Considering that over half of our team leave the Hover Cargo as often as possible, I don't have a problem with explaining everything repeatedly."

"Which wouldn't be a problem, except that you decided everyone needs to stay here until you've finished explaining, which won't actually happen since not everyone has returned." Lauren replied.

"Well, there's one problem." Jake announced, "Before I explain what's going on, I think I should show you something very strange that happened in a recent battle." James then turned on a TV set.

Three Gun Snipers shot at a Lightning Saix until it toppled over, considering that it was missing the legs on the right side. At this point, a Shield Liger was in sight, and was slowly trying to advanced out of sight. Not that it mattered, because another shot struck the Shield Liger's rear end, taking it out of action.

"Well, at least my Slash Liger didn't ever get taken out in a humiliating way like that." James said confidently.

"What about that time when you tried to run and a Red Horn shoved impaled your Liger's rear end with its horn?" Lauren asked. James couldn't think of an answer.

"I guess the Gun Sniper team are almost unstoppable when they focus on something." Cheryl pointed out, as a Gun Sniper blasted a Dibison, which crashed onto its side, also out of the battle.

"And they still haven't won yet?" Jake asked, "They took out the Lightning Saix, Shield Liger and Dibison without taking any damage."

"Apparently not." Randy replied, trying to remember the other two Zoids "There's two of the opposing Zoids left, some Brachio… thing… and…"

"I think the other was called Missile Tortoise or something." Deirdre said, "It's not that easy to remember when they're losing this badly."

Suddenly, the two Zoids came into sight. The Missile Tortoise launched itself into the air, retracting into its shell in the process, before connecting to the back of the other Zoid, Brachiozilla. The huge shell sat on the Zoid's back, but the large centrally-placed missile launcher on the Missile Tortoise was still visible, along with other weapons. A Gun Sniper had already deployed its giant sniper rifle, and fired. The shot hit the side of the Brachiozilla, only knocking the Zoid to the side. The Missile Tortoise fired everything it had as it flew through the air, blasted the Gun Sniper and it collapsed, with pieces of itself lying several meters away.

"I think something's wrong here." Jake said, as the Missile Tortoise continued to be sent flying through the air and began to somehow roll in midair. The huge shell on its back hit the Brachiozilla's head and it collapsed. A second later another shot tore through the Missile Tortoise's butt. Then a fake and obviously cardboard Death Saurer jumped up and down on the two Zoids. A Raynos flew over the battlefield, a giant megaphone attached next to the cockpit

"This battle has ended…the loser is the Brachio-" The person onboard the Raynos began.

"We're not the Brachio Team, we're the-" The Shield Liger pilot interrupted.

"The losers are the Brachio Team!" The man on the Raynos shouted sternly. Then Lauren turned off the screen.

"What happened to announcing the winners instead of the losers?" Jake asked.

"Does it occur to you, that if we could combine our Zoids, we could actually win instead of getting beaten by mediocre teams with pilots nobody can remember the names of?" Lauren asked, "I'm not an expert on fusing Zoids, but the Killer Dome and the Jet Falcon-".

"We don't get beaten that often, we have almost a 50/50 record against mediocre teams with pilots nobody can remember the names of." James replied, "Anyway, our efforts would end up the same way as that other team."

Elsewhere in the city-

While Jake wasn't informing James of something that was supposed to be happening, and some military people weren't blowing up a bunker that was only guarded by cannon tortoises, Ted, the strategist and Dark Spiner pilot for the Crusade Team was using the Dark Spiner to speed up and down a road for no reason, except for possibly the fact that there were already too many people in the Hover Cargo. However, nobody else had noticed this.

"We know you're pointlessly sitting in the cockpit of the Dark Spiner!" The voice of one of the ZBC commanding officers shouted, "There's a bunker that has to be destroyed, so leave immediately!"

"Well, I am in the cockpit of a Dark Spiner, but I think you're contacting the wrong Dark Spiner." Ted replied, "This is some idiot with a Dark Spiner, not someone who uses a Dark Spiner to blast bunkers into oblivion."

"We can't possibly have contacted the wrong Dark Spiner!" The officer shouted, "It only requires you to walk in a more-or-less straight line until you find the bunker and destroy it with the Charged Particle Gun."

"I think he's trying to contact me." Another voice said through the radio system, "Although, I wasn't expecting this, because once anyone becomes a veteran officer of the ZBC, they are mostly left alone, because people just assume that they are an awesome Zoid pilot and usually that's it. Unfortunately, occasionally the highest-ranking members of the ZBC would send veteran soldiers on missions. I'm only really a veteran soldier because some time ago, my Spinosapper began to evolve. Understandably, most people who are in the same ZBC unit as me are angry that I was promoted for something I didn't have any real connection to. When my Spinosapper began to evolve, a Shield Liger had been able to escape from it and attack other ZBC Zoids. The reason it had been attacking ZBC Zoids was because it was part of the CBZ, which has been trying to become the authority on Zoid battles for years. They never gave up, even though they never succeeded."

'Amazing, these crazy people are somehow having a conversation through my Dark Spiner's communications system.' Ted thought. Before anything else could happen, the communication system turned off.

'At least there won't be any idiots trying to communicate through my radio systems now. The ZBC seems to be getting more incompetent every year.' Ted thought, although he thought the radio could still activate again.

"Something that's _supposed to be_ remotely important is happening." Randy suddenly reported through the radio system, "But Jake is insisting that everyone needs to be at the Hover Cargo."

"Why is Jake insisting that everyone needs to be there, when James is in command of the Crusade Team?" Ted asked, "The Dark Spiner has communications systems, so it's not really necessary."

"Yes, but for some reason, apparently everyone must return to the Hover Cargo." Randy announced, "Not that I really understand why. Now that I think of it, there should be an actual reason."

"I already know what's supposed to be happening. Everyone except Jake has known about this for weeks now." Ted stated, "The Dark Spiner is closer to the location now that it would be if it returned to the Hover Cargo."

Crusade Team Hover Cargo-

"The Dark Spiner is already positioned closer to the first location than the Hover Cargo." Randy reported, "There's no reason for Ted to return to the Hover Cargo now."

"Well anyway, the most important thing, well, that's happening soon anyway, is a series of battles, but they're different from the regular battles. Firstly, this only actually happens-"

"Every four years." Deirdre finished, "Anyway, we've already known about this for some time. James actually found a way to enter the Crusade Team in that one event where there's five teams."

"It would probably be more convenient for the ZBC if fewer teams were in more battles, but, for some reason thy decided to give many teams that opportunity to be involved in the… er, weird thing." Nick pointed out.

"Maybe the ZBC are getting more incompetent constantly." Lauren suggested, "But since we all already knew why we've been called back to the Hover Cargo, what is the point in calling everyone back to the Hover Cargo?"

"Well, it's not just the fact that we're part of some random battle in this weird event thing. Even though we should be leaving the city soon, there's something else that's important." Jake said.

"Is it that the ZBC have become completely idiotic and decided that the battles will be held inside an active volcano?" Randy asked, "From what's happened so far, I wouldn't be surprised."

Suddenly, a strange device began glowing. This machine was larger than four fridges, and Nick had for some reason ordered this device from a company, but he didn't tell anyone what the purpose of the device was. Nick suddenly ran out of the room. Everyone followed him to a window.

"Interesting, it turns out to be _this day_ that they finally arrive." Nick stated, seeing a giant box outside the Hover Cargo.

"It turns out to be this day that _what_ arrives?" Randy asked, before noticing the giant box. It suddenly fell apart, and inside the box, was the less-than-amazing sight of three large crates.

"Don't you remember? These were ordered somewhere between six and eight weeks ago." Nick explained, "The Evo Flyer, the Dimetroptera and the Leogator. But since these just happened to arrive on this day, we can win."

"I think I must have been asleep at that point." Jake replied, "Did we even order these or did some random person decide he had too many Zoids?"

"Do we even have the money for these?" Lauren asked.

"Honestly, I don't remember." Nick replied, "But that isn't important. These also have additional control systems that can be used with our Zoids, allowing us to control these and out regular Zoids."

"I really think it's important to know if we actually have enough money for these." James said, "Incidentally, since we probably don't, how could you have order those things?"

"More importantly, what good is it if there's three Zoids in large crates?" Jake asked, "Aside from putting them in that room where a Matrix Dragon is also in a crate, there doesn't seem to be any point."

"We have a Matrix Dragon?" Cheryl asked, surprised, "Don't you realise how that could help us? If we knew we had a Matrix Dragon we could have won against a lot more teams that we really have!"

"Well, it could have helped us, but since there wasn't really any proof that it would help, I thought it was best if we just assumed that it didn't exist to begin with." Jake said.

"Wait, I still don't understand." James said, confused, "Apparently we've had a Matrix Dragon this whole time? When did we get a Matrix Dragon, and why didn't anyone notice?"

"We got a Matrix Dragon at about the time everyone in our team mysteriously realised that they had no money." Jake tried to explain, "Nobody noticed because I put it in a secret storage area."

"A secret storage area? When did we have one of them?" Randy asked, before suddenly realising, "I understand, we didn't know we had one, because it was supposed to be secret."

"Exactly." Jake said, "So now that everyone understands the situation, nobody has any reason to be annoyed by the fact that I secretly used everyone's money to buy that Matrix Dragon."

"Okay, so, random crap about a Matrix Dragon aside, what is this thing we supposedly don't know about?" Deirdre asked, "There's been constant interruptions since you began to explain it."

"Incidentally, I guess there have." Jake said, "Well, basically, we're supposed to be transporting the Artillery Team and the Justice Team to this area, because they're also part of a battle."

"Why are those teams in a battle?" Randy asked, "They're possibly the worst teams in history. Only if I joined one of those teams, would they truly be the worst team ever to exist."

"Wait, why are you calling yourself one of the worst Zoid pilots ever?" Lauren asked, "Well maybe you're not the best Zoid pilot ever, but it's also noticeable that, at least you're trying to…"

"I checked the 'official Zoid pilot rankings'." Randy announced, "It turns out that I'm right at the bottom, even below a bunch of people who have been dead for the last few centuries."

"But those listings are at least seven years old." Lauren said, "The new listings show that… well honestly, they show that nothing has changed at all within the last seven years."

"It's almost as if we're stuck in some kind of cartoon world." Jake realised, "If this continues, nothing remotely surprising will actually happen to anyone on this planet ever in their lives!"

"That would be unfortunate, but at least we would know exactly what was going to happen in the future." Deirdre reasoned, "Then, everyone would always win the lottery until it went out of business."

"Yes, but after it went out of business nobody would be able to gain any money from it." Nick said, "And everyone would have large amounts of money, and everything would be like it is now, but on a bigger scale."

"At any rate, we have to leave now, otherwise people will be wondering why three teams didn't show up during the battles they were supposed to be in." Jake pointed out, as he walked out of the 'command room'.

Justice Team HQ-

The Crusade Team, except for Ted, entered the Justice Team HQ. The Justice Team had, obviously, been expecting them, which was why they could enter the base so quickly. The Justice Team watched one of their previous defeats on a tape.

"Why were you going to fire a Charged Particle Beam with one leg damaged that badly?" Deirdre asked, as she climbed out of the Jet Falcon cockpit, "Didn't you realise what would happen?"

"I thought, if I had to lose anyway, I should try to cause some significant damage to the opposing team." Dennis the leader of the team, said, "The Tyrant Team hasn't lost since… well, since it was formed, since it was formed when I was first given the Storm Tyrant."

"Wait… the Tyrant Team? I thought you were the Justice Team." Randy said, "I know I've made some mistakes before, but there's no way there isn't something strange going on."

"We changed the name of the team once I got this Storm Tyrant." Dennis explained, "That's basically the whole story."

"But why did you get a Storm Tyrant?" Lauren asked, "And why aren't you the Justice Team anymore?"

"We were the Justice Team, and we won very frequently." Dennis explained, "However, although we didn't lose very often, it still happened. But when I was given the Storm Tyrant, we went from winning seven in ten battles to winning every battle... until this battle."

"That seems weird." James asked as he approached, "So you were already some of the best pilots around, but you needed another powerful Zoid to be victorious constantly?"

"I guess eventually we would have been winning almost every battle even without the Storm Tyrant." Dennis replied, "The Storm Tyrant enabled us to reach that point considerably faster."

"And although one team will eventually beat us, that would only happen because we would get bored of fighting hundreds of teams with stupid pilots, and eventually have no choice but to forfeit." Frank, another Tyrant Team member added, as he walked into the room.

"I think they're slightly overconfident." Nick said quietly, hoping nobody from the 'Justice' Team would hear.

"Well they have managed to defeat a lot of teams." James said, while watching a report that showed a list of all the battles the 'Justice' Team had won, "But wait, didn't you just lose in that video?"

"That was our most recent battle." Frank said, "We lost once, but that's no big problem. Soon we'll be crushing all competition, and that will continue when this weird event starts."

"Aren't we supposed to be leaving by now?" Helen, another of the 'Justice' team pilots asked, "Our Zoids are already being transported by a Whale King, although they're transporting many Zoids."

"At least the Hover Cargo doesn't have to carry anything else." Cheryl said, "We probably should be leaving now, but we still have to go to the base of the Artillery Team."

Artillery Team HQ-

The Artillery Team, consisting of Claire, Matt, Mark and Mike were waiting for the Hover Cargo to arrive. After several minutes it had arrived, and by this point the Dark Spiner had entered the Hover Cargo's main transportation area.

The Artillery Team's Zoids, which happened to be a Deadborder, a Red Horn, a Dark Horn and a Green Horn, had apparently vanished, as the Artillery Team's Zoids could normally be seen from most windows of the HQ.

"I'm guessing their Zoids are also being transported by that Whale King." Jake realised, as he and most of the other Crusade Team members and Dennis entered the Artillery Team HQ.

"I don't know who whey were, but some random team decided to transport the Zoids of everyone else they could find that was going to that event." Mike announced as he approached the Crusade Team.

"Actually, I think they called themselves the Phoenix Team." Dennis said, "Incidentally, they transported the Zoids from our team. They were transporting the Zoids of other teams."

"For these battles, they don't want people retreating to their transports." Matt explained, "So since we can't use the transport, it's better for one carrier to carry the Zoids of many teams."

"It's strange how Whale Kings are used a lot, but barely anyone is ever going to find a way to use even half of the transportation space on a Whale King." Mike realised, "I guess someone finally is."

"I still don't understand the point of this whole thing." Randy stated, "I know it's supposed to be important and happens every four years, but really, I don't see the point of it."

"Haven't you ever wondered why nobody on this whole planet seems to have much of a life unless it revolves around battles between Zoids?" James asked, "Well, this is supposed to make people more interested."

"So basically it's just to prevent anyone from having a life that doesn't revolve around the ZBC and its pointless events and tournaments?" Randy asked, "I guess it's necessary, otherwise…"

"I don't think I've seen someone fail to finish a sentence before." Lauren said, after everyone waited for two minutes, "But essentially, yes, otherwise nobody would care about these things."

"I was wondering why barely anyone on this planet has a real job." Mark said, "But anyway, despite that we're wasting our lives, shouldn't we be leaving this pointless and badly-maintained HQ now?"

"I guess we probably should." Jake said, "But unfortunately, I found a mysterious book. Well actually it was a few pieces of paper stuck together. It called itself a 'script' and told me to keep rambling on."

"I understand, but we really should be moving by now." Deirdre said, "Well, at any rate, we should soon, after this sentence, not that this sentence serves any real purpose."

"Yes, this is a very strange incident." Mark said, "But at any rate, we should probably be leaving, since I saw one of those 'script' things and it said we should actually be involved in the battles."

Battle arena-type place

The various teams had shortly arrived at the area where the strange battles were supposed to begin. Many other teams had also arrived here, despite the fact that they were only in one battle.

"It's very strange that people travel so far just to appear in one battle." Nick said, "I don't think this is going to happen again… but then, it probably will, since a lot of people get bored easily."

"I don't see how it would help people who get bored easily." Cheryl replied, "It only happens every four years, so therefore those people would still be bored most of the time."

"Yes, but some people are insane." James stated, "They'll continue trying to claim these battles actually help people by giving them entertainment. But I don't think anyone finds these events entertaining."

"It's slightly better than those stupid reality TV shows that are constantly taking up practically the entire TV schedule." Randy added, "But I still don't think these events are that great."

"It might be better if they were actually different than Zoid battles… well more than they actually are, anyway." Deirdre said, "They could have events involving Zoids pilots doing something other than fighting."

"Yes, but that would require the ZBC to actually be able to consider something other than fighting." Cheryl realised, "If the CBZ took over, then they might be better at running things."

"Yes, but the CBZ don't necessarily exist." Randy pointed out, "They could just be something the ZBC "invented" to try to make people think things could be much worse than they are now."

"Unfortunately, if the CBZ do exist, they could be much better at running things." Nick realised, "Although, somehow I get the idea that we'll never know if they really exist."

"Although, the B stands for Battling, while the B in ZBC stands for Battle." Jake reasoned, "So if the CBZ really exist, even if they took over I don't think there would be any 'events' except battles."

"I guess that's true." Lauren stated, "So basically, regardless of what happens, the organisations in charge of this will continue to ensure that everything 'revolves' around battles."

"I don't see why they have to." Nick replied, "So far, there's been many people in history who decided to fight each other. There's enough violence without people punching the crap out of each other."

"I don't remember anyone 'punching the crap out of me' during a Zoid battle." James tried to reason, "But I guess you have the right idea. But we're already here, so there's no point in leaving."

"Well, there may be no point in leaving." Randy said, "But I think, after this tournament, it's probably time for me to find a real job. Hopefully, that shouldn't be a problem."

"Yes, but where are you going to find a real job?" James asked. Randy turned away, depressed because he couldn't think of an answer. Someone ran into a parked car and one of the doors fell off.


	2. Chapter 2

Zoids – Dimension Crisis

"The battle has begun!" A ZBC officer in a Raynos shouted as a Raynos flew over the battlefield.

"Right, I know how to start this battle." Randy commented, as the Killer Dome advanced over to the ocean.

"I think the battle had already started before that." Lauren replied, "But, we should actually try to move now." The remaining six Zoids walked or flew along the coast, in search of anything travelling through the water.

"I can't see anything underwater." Randy commented, "Then again, I still doubt that they'd position this battle so close to the ocean just to help one team. There has to be something."

"And on the subject of teams, shouldn't there actually be a Dimetroptera around here?" Lauren asked, "What happened to that thing anyway? I thought it was meant to be in this battle."

"Yes, but you also saw it and two other Zoids in boxes a few minutes ago." Nick stated, "Do you really think I can open a giant box and take a Zoid out of it in a few minutes?"

"I guess not, but it would be useful to actually see that combination." James replied, "Then again, it would be good to actually see the team we're supposed to be working with."

"Maybe, but we won't even know which team that is, since there's supposed to be two more teams." Cheryl pointed out, "Although, one of those teams must have pilots significantly more skilled than the other."

"On the subject of which, entering this battle will probably only result in a huge amount of damage to our Zoids." Ted explained, "We're fighting a team who almost beat the Tyrant Team, presumably without luck or stupidity helping them. We have to try to focus on beating them. But, since we don't know which team they are, that will be difficult in itself."

"Well, if we don't come under attack soon, those two teams would have to be fighting each other." Cheryl stated.

"But if we come under attack soon, then there would still be a third team to attack both sides, and a fourth team to attack them." Ted replied.

"That is a problem." James realised, "Whichever teams begin fighting each other first will be easy targets for a third team, if another team can find them."

"And staying together would not only allow that to happen, but since the other teams presumably split up, staying in one group would make it much harder to locate everyone from the other teams." Ted pointed out.

"We also don't know how many of them there are." Randy stated, "There could be a whole team in the ocean, but that seems unlikely. I don't think a team would dedicate themselves entirely to fighting in the ocean."

"Even if they did, they would be at a huge disadvantage during almost every battle they were involved in." Nick explained, "But I think I can find them faster by flying." The Gildragon flew into the air.

"Incidentally, he was the right idea." Deirdre replied, "But I'll search for people in another direction." The Jet Falcon flew off also; obviously forming Slash Liger Jet this time was highly unlikely.

"The Cannot Fort is too slow to continue travelling with everyone else." Cheryl pointed out, "I'll search for the best location to blast anyone who advances on our position." The Snipe Liger also ran away from the main group… well, as fast as a Snipe Liger can run, anyway.

"The Dark Spiner isn't as fast as the Gojulas Giga or the Slash Liger; I'll search for anyone advancing along the coast." Ted explained, as the Dark Spiner advanced ahead of the others.

"Well I guess the most logical option now is to run through the forest and search for anyone on the other teams." James commented, as the Slash Liger ran into the forest area near the coast.

Elsewhere-

"We probably won't find anyone who can actually beat us, but I heard that that other team would be here." Darren announced from the cockpit of his Death Raser.

"Well, I don't know how we'll know which team they are, but I'll search for possible targets from the air." Claire, the Gunguyarados pilot, announced as the Gunguyarados flew into the air.

"I think my efforts would be best trying to find a decent target from the ground." Ron, a Metalrhimos pilot, replied.

"Well at least that's the right idea. We should split into two groups and search for any sign of the other teams." Louise, a Fire Fox pilot, suggested.

"Good idea. We'll form the Decalto Dragon." John replied, as his Parablade leapt into the air to merge with the Death Raser.

"I guess that means we should be working together." Colin suggested, as his Blade Liger turned towards the Metalrhimos.

"Well, there's no reason not to." Louise replied simply. The Metalrhimos ran off, the Decalto Dragon following closely behind it.

A forest-

"There should be some sign of them by now." Lauren said, as the Gojulas Giga followed directly behind the Slash Liger.

"There doesn't seem to be." James replied, "But if they're using certain Zoids they could avoid being detected."

"Certain Zoids like Command Wolves!" A Command Wolf pilot, Dave, shouted, as two Command Wolves advanced from their position behind the Gojulas Giga.

"And you will deeply regret everything negative you've ever said about Command Wolves!" The pilot of the other Command Wolf shouted.

"I don't actually remember saying anything negative about Command Wolves." James replied.

"I think they're obsessed with Command Wolves." Lauren suggested.

"We're not obsessed!" Dave shouted.

"We're just giving Command Wolves the recognition they deserve!" The other pilot shouted, and both Command Wolves opened fire on the Gojulas Giga's legs. The Gojulas Giga fell to the ground, immobile, and the Command Wolves blasted it until it was out of action.

Ocean part of the battlefield-

The Killer Dome was about to travel through the ocean for several miles without any sign of another ocean-based Zoid. Randy began to think that maybe this ocean part of the battlefield was just here so that the Killer Dome could be used most efficiently, but he still wasn't entirely convinced.

"There's still no sign of someone trying to use this part of the ocean to their advantage." Randy reported, "It's actually getting really boring here. I was expecting actual competition."

"Everyone else is searching for any sign of the other teams in the forest, except for Cheryl." Ted reported, "She's trying to find a vantage point to fire the Snipe Liger's arsenal from."

"Actually, I guess I should try to get closer to the coast." Randy stated, "Anyone approaching from that direction wouldn't notice the Killer Dome."

"Good idea. At least some of them have to be on the coast." Ted replied.

"I'm closer to the coast now." Randy replied after a few seconds, "Fortunately the Killer Dome is fast underwater."

The Killer Dome sped towards the coastline; it was suddenly blasted and fell to the seabed.

"I've just taken damage from something, but there's nothing in sight!" Randy shouted as he searched for whoever had fired.

"I think someone else is advancing down the coastline." Ted explained, "I should be there soon, and then they'll have no chance."

"This battle isn't even difficult!" Randy heard a voice coming from a Sea Panther shouting. The Sea Panther's torpedo launcher fired several torpedoes that hit the Killer Dome repeatedly.

"I haven't lost yet." Randy replied, before seeing that his Zoid had already taken a Combat System Freeze, "Okay, maybe I have been beaten."

"There are two Zoids advancing on up the coastline." Ted reported, "Although I don't know what they are yet."

"Well, I'm out of this battle." Randy replied through communications to his entire team, "There's a Sea Panther approaching the coastline, possibly more than one. It, or they, should be there soon. I still haven't heard from anyone else on our team."

Above the battlefield-

"I can't find anything." Deirdre stated as her Jet Falcon flew over the trees, "There's no sign of any of the other team members."

"This is James." James reported over the communications system, "One of the teams is the Warriors of Command team. They either use Command Wolves exclusively, or their team mostly consists of Command Wolves."

"Understood, I'll search for Command Wolves." Deirdre replied. Suddenly her Jet Falcon was hit hard from behind and began to fall.

Elsewhere on the battlefield-

"I think I've found some of them, there's a Metalrhimos and a Decalto Dragon." Nick reported as his Gildragon flew over the trees, firing several shots.

"Nick, I don't think you should be engaging those two Zoids alone!" Cheryl replied, "Where exactly are they?"

"Since I don't know where you are, I wouldn't know how to explain where they are in relation to your position." Nick replied, "But I think something else is going on. They must suspect that someone's watching them."

Across the radio, Cheryl could hear Nick taking heavy fire, presumably from the Metalrhimos and Decalto Dragon. However, that kind of firepower caused large explosions, which were clearly visible.

"I hope this works." Cheryl commented, pressing the button to fire the cannons. Hopefully it could take out one or both of the opposing Zoids. However, as soon as she fired, Cheryl was hit from behind by something, and the Snipe Liger collapsed, defeated.

The Dark Spiner continued to advance down the coastline. Suddenly, he came under fire from the Blade Liger and Fire Fox. The Blade Liger shot forwards, preparing to strike from another direction. Ted fired on the Fire Fox repeatedly, and it was very quickly taken out of action. The Dark Spiner began to turn, but several shots from the Blade Liger knocked it to the ground.

However, the Dark Spiner was turning as it fell, and somehow ended up with the top of itself facing the Blade Liger. The spines again rose upwards, and the cannons attached to them fired on the Liger. As Colin struggled to get the controls to respond, the cannons fired again and again, the spines slowly retracting in the process. Then the Dark Spiner began to stand. By the time it was standing and facing the Blade Liger, the Blade Liger had almost fully recovered, and was backing away.

'Now I have to find a way to break through the Liger's shield.' Ted thought. The Dark Spiner's frontal weaponry fired, but the Blade Liger brought up its shield. The energy shield was getting weakened by the shots, but not enough.

'The shield only has to sustain this for a bit longer.' Colin though. The Blade Liger's blades extended and he charged. Energy surged through the blades as he prepared to cut through the Dark Spiner.

'Maybe this isn't working.' Ted thought. Yet again, the spines began to rise, and the cannons attached to them swung around to fire on the Liger's shield while the Dark Spiner's other guns also pounded it.

'It's not going to work. That firepower will never get through my shield." Colin thought. The shield was dropping to eighty per cent, but Colin knew that it shouldn't matter.

'Okay, he's left me with only one option.' Ted thought. The Dark Spiner began to charge the Charged Particle Gun. The Dark Spiner kept firing at the Blade Liger as the powerful cannon charged up.

Suddenly, the Dark Spiner's secondary guns stopped firing, as the Charged Particle anon launched its stream of destructive energy. Realising that it was uncontrolled and that he was going to get hit hard, Colin attempted to turn. The Blade Liger's shield collapsed. The Blade Liger was thrown to one side by the Charged Particle Cannon tearing through it, but even though it was taking heavy damage, it spun to the side and shot forward.

"I can't lose now!" Colin shouted. The shockwaves caused by the destructive power of the Charged Particle Gun hammered the Blade Liger, even though the main energy stream was to its side. As the Blade Liger was hammered again and again, Colin fired two shots, blasting the Dark Spiner's left shoulder cannon off. Immediately afterwards, the Blade Liger cut through the Dark Spiner's leg. Both Zoids fell to the ground.

'I can't believe it, I lost against him.' Ted thought, as the monitor displayed the words 'Combat System Freeze.' Ted waited, knowing that the Blade Liger pilot might not know he was out of the battle and might attack again to be certain.

'I can't believe it, I lost against him.' Colin thought, as the monitor displayed the words 'Combat System Freeze.' Colin waited, knowing that the Dark Spiner pilot might not know he was out of the battle and might attack again to be certain.

Forest part of battlefield-

The Slash Liger was running. With no sign of the Jet Falcon that should have been supporting it, there wasn't much choice. The pilots of the two Command Wolves following it knew how to avoid his attacks.

"Now it's over!" James heard one of them shouting. Then that same pilot screamed, as his Zoid was blasted twice simultaneously. It turned in the direction the shots had come from, only to be hit twice more.

"Can't you see I'm busy crushing someone?" The pilot demanded, furious. The Command Wolf's cannon spun and the pilot made the Command Wolf fire repeatedly.

'That guy has good aim.' James realised, with shock, as the damaged Command Wolf took out all of the opposing shots, intercepting them with its own cannons, before firing into the woods repeatedly. The opposing fire stopped.

"That got him." The pilot said calmly. Two more shots hit his Command Wolf, rocking it. Another two struck, tearing its front left leg off and hitting the torso. As it fell, it was hit twice more and lay silent.

"Combat system freeze?" The pilot demanded, shocked that he had been taken out so quickly and easily. Command Wolves may not have been the most heavily armoured Zoid, but the Warrior of Command had the skill to make them near, invincible.

"Who the heck are you, and what gives you the right to do this to a Command Wolf?" Dave demanded, firing his own Command Wolf's guns again and again into the forest, aiming at whatever had taken out his team-mate.

A Geno Saurer emerged from the woods. A branch proceeded to get caught on its neck. The Geno Saurer broke the branch off the tree accidentally and it fell to the ground.

"Prepare to die, person who doesn't like Command Wolves!" Dave shouted, firing repeatedly. Now that the Geno Saurer was in plain sight, the Command Wolf could blast it easily.

"So, you think you can beat me?" The other pilot demanded. However, the Geno Saurer was helpless. The Command Wolf was constantly running in circles around it, firing.

'Wait, that gives me an idea.' James realised. The side-mounted blades of his Slash Liger fully deployed. The Command Wolf continued to run around the Geno Saurer, firing like there was no tomorrow.

"It doesn't matter. I'll win anyway." The pilot of the Geno Saurer said calmly. The Geno Saurer's foot locks slammed into the ground. The Geno Saurer's Charged Particle Gun began to energise.

'This is the perfect chance.' James thought. The Slash Liger shot forward at exactly the right moment. One blade cut into the Geno Saurer's damaged chest armour while the other severed the Command Wolf's front legs.

The sensors immediately informed James that the damage to the Geno Saurer had been enough to take it out of the battle. The Slash Liger turned, firing only on the Command Wolf until it suffered a Combat System Freeze.

Another part of the battlefield-

'Okay, this isn't the worst chance I've had to take someone out.' Nick thought as the damaged Gildragon walked through the woods. There were less trees in the area in front of the Gildragon, and Nick saw a Metalrhimos and Decalto Dragon.

"This is Cheryl. It's really unfortunate, but Command Wolves took me out of action before I could defeat them." Cheryl reported. Nick immediately realised that the Snipe Liger's positioning might have been its downfall.

"I should have reported this sooner." Lauren announced, "The Gojulas Giga is down. More Command Wolves took it out. I don't know how many of those Warriors of Command there are, but…"

"I managed to defeat a Gunguyarados, but now my Jet Falcon is defeated." Deirdre reported.

"I defeated a Fire Fox and a Blade Liger, but the Blade Liger was able to cause sufficient damage to the Dark Spiner to take it out of action. I can't help anymore either." Ted reported.

"That's really strange." James replied, "Because my Slash Liger and a Liger Zero X just managed to defeat each other simultaneously. The Liger Zero X pilot called out to a Fire Phoenix pilot, but he didn't get there in time."

Nick stared in shock. Randy had already reported in as defeated, which Nick knew left only himself. After checking the team readouts, he read that only two Zoids were down from two other teams, three from another, and every Zoid from the last team.

'I don't believe it. We've taken more than almost every other team. We're getting slaughtered.' Nick thought, watching as the Metalrhimos came closer, the Decalto Dragon following behind it.

The Gildragon leapt out of the woods, firing with everything it had. The Decalto Dragon and Metalrhimos fired various weapons immediately, their pilots acting on instinct, trying to obliterate the Gildragon.

The result was better than Nick could have hoped for. They had reacted as if he'd been on the ground. Explosions below the Gildragon threw it into the air, and it spread its wings, flying away.

As the Gildragon flew away, it fired with everything it had. The Decalto Dragon was struck repeatedly, but it fired back. The Gildragon fell to the ground again, but it was still not defeated, while the Decalto Dragon collapsed, finally defeated. Suddenly, Nick realised that he was the only active pilot in the battle.

'Those other two teams must have wiped each other out.' Nick thought, surprised that he had actually won. But for several minutes, the end of the battle wasn't even announced, so maybe nobody could believe he had won.

Battle arena-type place, much later-

After several battles, the strange battles had finally ended. The various teams involved in these strange battles prepared to leave the battle arena, since they had no reason not to.

"I am Zack, the leader of the Phoenix Team." One of the pilots from another team announced, "Since we're transporting the Tyrant Team and Artillery Team Zoids I thought we should meet at least once."

"Well, it is… basically very random otherwise." Nick said, "But you probably know me. I'm that pilot who won the battle between five teams and nobody actually noticed for several minutes."

"Yes, that was kind of strange." Tim, the pilot of the Salamander of the Phoenix Team said, "Although, now that we're standing here rambling insanely, people might think we're idiots."

"Yes, but since this place is full of idiots anyway, they might not notice." Lauren said, "It's amazing how many people don't notice when there's seven teams standing around one area."

"I'm surprised that barely anyone recognises their own stupidity." Zack said, "Out of everyone here, only… about thirty-seven people realise that they're idiots. Well, we should probably leave."

"I'm still amazed that I lost." Darren announced as he walked over, "The Decalto Team is also being transported by the Phoenix Team's Whale King, so we'll also be involved in that journey… if you could call it a journey."

"We must all live in the same town." Cheryl realised, "I didn't think there were that many teams in our town, but it explains why so many people are being transported by two carriers."

"Well, this definitely makes sense." Carl, a Command Wolf pilot said, "I was forced to leave a division of ZBC maintenance weirdoes that occasionally blow stuff up and had to join the Warriors of Command."

"That's funny, I also joined them." Karl, another command wolf pilot, explained, "I was kicked out after they kept confusing me with some guy named… I think they called him Carl or something, so I joined the warriors of command."

"I don't know why, but there's something very strange about being here." Carl said, "Well, maybe it's just that I don't see the point of this event and, to be completely honest, it seems pointless."

"Yes, this is kind of pointless." Karl said, "But maybe we should return to the Whale King, before any other stupid things happen. Then at least we will be prepared for the stupidity."

"That is a good idea." Carl agreed, as he and Karl turned and walked away, "It's strange that the Sea Panther team is also being transported by the Whale King, but weird things happen."

"Weird things will probably continue to happen." Karl said, "But it's weird that three teams were involved in the same battle and are all being transported by the same team's Whale King."

"That is true." Carl agreed, "Hopefully, that will be the end of the weirdness. The worst thing that could happen now is if someone falls out of a tree and smashes everything."

"Most of the weird people have left." Cheryl said, "Well, by weird people I mean weird by normal standards, which also means normal by our standards. Funny how things work out."

"Yes, that is very strange." Nick said, "But hopefully no harm will come from it. Anyway, now that they all returned to their Whale King, maybe we should also leave, since there's no reason to stay here."

"Well, there is a reason to stay here, I guess." Dennis said, "There's a few other people still standing in random places, staring at everything near them blankly like idiots."

"Yes, there are." Randy said, "I know this is getting stupid, but if we take photos of the people who are standing around in a daze, later we can put photos everywhere in town and everyone will laugh at them."

"Yes, but that won't work because everyone who lived in our town, except us, has already left." Dennis said, "So really, this isn't going to work, even though if it did work it would also be stupid."

"Something that's stupid regardless of if it actually has meaning. That is very strange." Jake realised, "But I guess it doesn't matter how strange it is, we still have to find a way to avoid taking photos of people."

"Well for one thing, there are no cameras in sight." James pointed out, "So it doesn't really matter something happens that I don't even know what it is. We will be sane anyway."

"Yes, but how can we be 'sane' if we're already probably mental?" Nick asked "I know that we're not mental by most people's standards, but that's because they're also mental."

"Yes, but we're less insane than them, if that's supposed to help in some way." Lauren said, "Although technically, everyone involved in these battles can be considered crazy."

"Yes, but that's only because we travelled a long distance to be in one battle with no prize money. In fact we lost six thousand dollars when a small crab stole it and ran away with it." Jake said.

"Why couldn't you prevent a crab running away with six thousand dollars?" Lauren asked. Suddenly a crab ran into the room, picked up a table and ran. People tried to chase it but they fell over.

"I understand." Lauren said, "Apparently nobody on this crazy planet can run without collapsing. I'm almost surprised that people can continue piloting their Zoids without passing out."

"Yes, but apparently the Zoids like being piloted by dumb people." James said, "Anyway, I heard that there's this other planet called Earth where there's also supposed to be many dumb people."

"Yes, but how could there be more dumb people than on this planet? It's possible to travel thousands of miles across open ground without finding any signs of life on this planet." Jake said.

"Yes, but that doesn't really cause people to be insane." Randy said, "Although seriously, there are too many deserts on this planet, and eventually someone will die while crossing one."

"I think many people already have died in the process of crossing a desert." Jake said, "But this insanity has continued for too long. We need to return to the Hover Cargo immediately."

Some place in a desert, later-

The Crusade Team's Hover Cargo sped towards a strange, wooden building. This building appeared to be deserted.

"The Phoenix Team's Whale King is now flying directly above us." Randy reported, "We should reach the town within a few hours."

"Then I guess everyone's going to be bored for several hours." Ted stated, "Although, we could find out if there really is anyone in that building. It's a long distance from civilisation."

"There can't be someone there." Lauren pointed out, "They couldn't survive for very long if they were in a desert without any kind of contact with anyone, even if a lot of people pass by this building."

"Although, nothing else is happening for the next few hours." Jake stated, "And there's at least thirteen bored people in the Hover Cargo right now. There's no reason not to find out."

"I think if we stop now, the other people on the Hover Cargo will just get annoyed." Lauren reasoned, "Although, Nick and Randy can't be bored because they were trying to find out how to use the new Zoids."

"Yes, they're still trying to find out why we have a Matrix Dragon though." Jake replied, "Maybe getting a Matrix Dragon was a bad idea. We never seem to have any use for it."

"We never seem to have the opportunity to use it." Ted stated, "Mainly because nobody here has any intention of piloting it… or if they are, it's not exactly obvious. At this rate it will never be piloted."

"Even if they find a way to pilot that Matrix Dragon, we'll probably end up with someone flying that Matrix Dragon around in circles while still inside the Hover Cargo." Lauren realised.

"At any rate, there's no reason not to investigate this building. There could be anything happening here, and it could even be a hiding place for very small crabs that steal money." Jake said. The Hover Cargo began to get slower.

Outside strange building-

The Crusade Team, with the exceptions of Nick and Randy, who probably hadn't noticed that the Hover Cargo had even stopped, and several members of the other teams disembarked.

"Well, I don't see why anyone would live here." James said, "Anyway, it's obvious that there's nobody in this building. Mainly because there's no sign of movement through the windows."

"That's stupid." Dennis replied, "Even if you can't see anyone through the windows, they're obviously in another part of the building. If someone hides something from you, do you assume it doesn't exist?"

"I think James has the right idea, mainly because the two front windows are so huge." Lauren explained, pointing to the large front windows, "There are other windows, and there's still no sign of anyone moving."

"And light is entering through the windows." Frank realised, "So anyone could see that there's nobody in that building, because if they moved they would be blocking the light to some extent."

"Well, there's no point of standing here." Cheryl realised, "We're still several hours away from the town…. I think. Anyway, the people onboard the Whale King are still headed towards the town."

"I guess that's true." Dennis said, "But despite that, it would still be interesting if we could figure out why this building was built to begin with. This isn't the best place for anyone to live."

"That is true." Jake agreed, "But despite that, even if someone did want to live here, they abandoned this building. Because of that, we'll probably never know why it was built."

Suddenly, a Gorhecks ran to the building. It stopped and somebody leapt out of the cockpit. The pilot immediately ran behind the building and ran into it through a rear door.

"Okay, I guess there is some chance of finding out why this building was made." Jake stated. Jake opened the front door and everyone entered, not noticing that the front door had been open the whole time.

Inside building-

"What is the purpose of this building?" Jake immediately asked the man who had piloted the Gorhecks, before pointlessly asking, "And is there someone nearby who pilots and Arosaurer?"

"Why does everyone immediately assume that where there's a Gorhecks, there's an Arosaurer?" The man in charge of the building demanded, "But in answer to your question, yes."

"But why did you build a building here, when there's barely anyone to benefit from… whatever the purpose of this building actually is?" Jake asked, "What is the purpose of the building?"

"Well, I don't live here, for one thing." The Gorhecks pilot said, "Anyway, it's basically a power plant, but for some strange reason it only requires two people to operate it."

"I guess that's… really strange." Jake said, "I've never been inside a power plant before, mainly because I don't work in one. But at least we finally found someone who had a real job."

"I wouldn't call it a real job. Even though I get money for being here. And even though I rarely have to tolerate any other living human. But there are some bad points." The power plant worker said.

"I don't see why there would be bad parts of this job." Dennis said, "Well, apart from the fact that you're in a huge building entirely by yourself. That must be very strange at times."

"Well, yes, there is that." The power plant worker said, "But there's something else that's very important. It's important that you know this."

"Does anyone else think there's something strange about this place?" Mark asked, "It's almost as if there's something… well actually, I can't quite describe it… it's very weird though."

"This is why it's a stupid idea to bring alcohol to a place where we have to travel for hours to get to the city." Jake said, wondering if what he had just said actually made sense, "Did anyone actually bring any alcohol?"

"I tried to, but a crab stole it and ran." James said, "But to be honest, we should probably be leaving now."

Some place in a desert-

"I still don't understand what's going on, besides the fact that a long and pointless 'event' is over." James stated, "I still don't know why everyone thinks weird things are happening."

"Because weird things are happening." Nick replied, "There was something strange about that power plant, mainly the fact that everything around it seemed to be distorted."

"I didn't notice that." Lauren said, "Is it possible that you're disorientated and see everything and everyone as being distorted? Did anyone else notice anything strange at the power plant?"

"As far as I know, the power plant wasn't distorted." Randy said, "But then again, I never actually looked at it. So, for all I know, it probably was distorted. Wait… how could Nick know if it was distorted?"

"Because there are these things. At some point, you may even have heard of them. Anyway, they're called 'windows and there are many of them on the Hover Cargo. When used correctly, you can see outside." Nick said sarcastically.

"Something very odd is happening here." Dennis tried to reason, "Nick saw the building from outside, and it seemed distorted. But nobody inside the building noticed any distortion."

"Then it appears that something very strange has happened to the window. Or, possibly, there's something strange happening outside the window." Frank realised, "Or maybe Nick is insane… well, more insane than anyone else."

"If he is insane, that solves everything." James said, "But since he obviously is and doesn't normally see distorted windows, we can only assume that this had some basis in reality."

"Yes, but you're missing the point." Nick tried to explain, "Out of everything I could see from that window, only one thing seemed to be distorted. And that was that power plant."

"So, there must be something strange going on at that power plant." James realised, "But if there's something odd going on there, then it still doesn't matter, since we're getting further away."

"Actually, I have noticed a strange energy signature coming towards us." Jake announced, "The Phoenix Team used their Whale King's equipment to get a visual image of it."

"So why don't we know what's causing this yet?" Dennis asked. Suddenly, a large computer monitor turned on. It showed a Diablo Tiger, Whitz Tiger, Brastle Tiger and Rayse Tiger pulling a large machine across the desert.

"There's something very odd about these four Zoids." Nick realised, "We're detecting a large amount of energy coming from-" Suddenly the Hover Cargo was shaken severely and several people were hurled to the ground.

"They're firing on us?" James asked surprised, "Well, I guess they're giving us no choice. We have to launch our Zoids from the Hover Cargo. Jake, contact the Phoenix Team."

"I've already been contacting them!" Jake shouted, "I don't know what's going to happen if we fight these things, but we outnumber them immensely, so hopefully we can show at least some competence and defeat them."

Some place in a desert, several seconds later-

Almost immediately after the Crusade Team had deployed, many teams had deployed from the Whale King, leaving only the Sea Panther Team onboard the carrier. The teams forced the tiger Zoids away from each other.

The Command Wolves surrounded the Whitz Tiger. They fired on it from various angles, but the Whitz Tiger's armour proved too thick to be penetrated by their firepower.

The Whitz Tiger fired back with two cannons. A Command Wolf, standing almost directly in front of the Whitz Tiger, was blasted off its feet. The Whitz Tiger leapt at another Command Wolf and tore into it with its claws.

The Deadborder fired the cannons on its shoulders. Explosions rocked the Whitz Tiger, and the three standing Command Wolves fired repeatedly on the Whitz Tiger, hoping to defeat it.

However, the Whitz Tiger generated an energy barrier with two wing-like components located above its cannons. The firepower from the Command Wolves had no effect.

The Whitz Tiger charged and slammed into the Deadborder, knocking it onto its back. Carl took this opportunity to fire. The command Wolf's cannon shot the Whitz Tiger's neck, but again, the Whitz Tiger was unharmed.

Despite being in the process of trying to tear the Deadborder apart, the Whitz Tiger fired several shots at Carl's Command Wolf. The Command Wolf was rocked by explosions until it collapsed.

"There's nine of us… and we still can't beat one Whitz Tiger." Mike said as his Green Horn fired on the Whitz Tiger. The Whitz Tiger generated its energy barrier again.

However, the Red Horn and Dark Horn also fired on the Whitz Tiger. The energy barrier finally began to fail and the Whitz Tiger was struck with the firepower of the three Zoids, while the Command Wolves prepared to fire from either side.

The Whitz Tiger charged at a Command Wolf. Karl fired repeatedly but it was no good. The Whitz Tiger slammed into the Command Wolf. The other Zoids were still firing, and as a result, hit both the Command Wolf and Whitz Tiger.

The Whitz Tiger was blown off the Command Wolf. When the Zoids stopped firing, the Command Wolf was barely able to stand, but it was missing most of its armour. Several holes had been blown through the Whitz Tiger's armour.

Seeing this, the Whitz Tiger pilot decided to run. As he ran, the opposing Zoids blew a few holes in the Whitz Tiger's rear armour. The Whitz Tiger's cannons rotated around able blasted the Red Horn's front legs.

"I won't be able to help anymore in a few seconds." Mark said, "And I'm surprised that we've damaged it this badly. But this is amazing… I thought this would be hard, but he's defeated at least six of us."

The last Command Wolf ran in front of the Whitz tiger, firing as it went. One shot struck the weakened leg armour. The Whitz Tiger collapsed, but it continued to fire at its enemies.

The Dark Horn and Green Horn fired on the Whitz Tiger once again. With their combined firepower, they pounded it until it stopped firing. Mike leapt out of the Dark Horn, hoping to find out why the Whitz Tiger pilot had attacked.

The Rayse Tiger fired repeatedly from its tail cannon at the Blade Liger and Fire Fox that were trying to chase it. The Fire Fox was hit hard and fell behind the Blade Liger, which in turn, shot forwards.

The Blade Liger shot forwards, and its blades rotated to be pointing directly at the Rayse Tiger. The Blade Liger fired the lasers attached to the blades at the Rayse Tiger, but they had no effect.

The Fire Fox unleashed several laser beams from its laser cannon, but they had as much effect as the Blade Liger's lasers. The Rayse Tiger shot the Blade Liger with its tail cannon, throwing it to one side.

As two Zoids followed the Rayse Tiger, the Metalrhimos fired on it from further away. The firepower of the Metalrhimos actually had an effect, throwing the Rayse Tiger aside.

Several shots from the Fire Fox continued to strike the Rayse Tiger. However, they continued to hit without effect and the Rayse Tiger fired a single shot from its tail cannon, blasting the Fire Fox's left front leg.

Before anyone could react, the Rayse Tiger fired two more shots. The Fire Fox's leg was almost completely shattered and it collapsed, defeated. The Rayse Tiger continued to run.

The Blade Liger shot forward. Within seconds it was to the left of the Rayse Tiger and fired several shots from the lasers on the right blade. The Rayse Tiger still didn't react.

The Metalrhimos fired two missiles. They slammed into the Rayse Tiger and exploded. The Rayse Tiger was hit hard and began to stumble. The Blade Liger accidentally shot past it.

Seeing this opportunity, the Rayse Tiger leapt into the air, initiating a Strike Laser Claw attack. It tore through the Blade Liger's armour and the crippled Liger dropped to the ground, defeated.

However, the Gunguyarados and Decalto Dragon began to fly after the Rayse Tiger, bombarding it while in midair. The Rayse Tiger was shaken by the impact of their firepower.

The Gunguyarados landed in front of the Rayse Tiger, lowering the huge cannon on its back to fire, while the Decalto Dragon began to strafe the Rayse Tiger. The Rayse Tiger almost collapsed.

The Rayse Tiger began to transfer its energy to its fangs as it leapt into the air, preparing to attack the Gunguyarados and hopefully leave it crippled, which would leave the Rayse Tiger almost without opposition.

However, the Gunguyarados used its tail drill to cut into the underside of the Rayse Tiger seconds before it struck. An explosion suddenly engulfed the Rayse Tiger's head and it collapsed.

"The Rayse Tiger can't control its own energy?" Darren asked, surprised, "Nobody shot it, but suddenly its head practically exploded as a result of nothing? This is definitely weird."

"I think the energy it was going to use against the Gunguyarados is too much for it to control for long." Colin suggested, "That must be what caused the Rayse Tiger's defeat… wait, is it defeated?"

"It has to be." Darren said, "Right now, that Rayse Tiger's energy signature is fading… I think it's out of commission, and the fading energy is just residual energy from its last attack."

A Fire Phoenix flew into position, and suddenly merged with the Liger Zero of the Phoenix Team. The Liger Zero Phoenix shot towards the Brastle Tiger, hoping to defeat it, or at least find out why it attacked.

"I don't know who they are, but they shouldn't be able to cause us any real problems." Zack announced, as the Liger Zero Phoenix's claws began glowing, and it shot forwards.

However, the Brastle Tiger slammed its own claws into the Liger Zero Phoenix as it prepared to attack. The impact spun the Liger around, and Zack was too surprised to react, so the Liger's head crashed into the ground.

Zack immediately tried to think of a way to recover from the situation, but the Brastle Tiger fired everything it could at the Liger. The Liger Zero Phoenix was sent skidding across the ground, greatly damaged.

The rest of the Phoenix Team were too surprised by what they were seeing to react, and the Brastle Tiger shot forward, biting the Liger Zero Phoenix, piercing its armour with its fangs and lifting it off the ground.

The Brastle Tiger discharged an immense amount of heat through its fangs. The Liger Zero Phoenix stopped even attempting to resist. The damage caused by the heat was too immense for even this fused Zoid to sustain.

The Phoenix Team's Salamander fired several missiles at the Brastle Tiger. The Brastle Tiger was hit hard and thrown several feet away, but it continued to hold onto the Liger Zero with its jaws.

Suddenly, the Brastle Tiger hurled the Liger Zero at the Salamander. The impact knocked the Salamander to the ground, with the Liger Zero on top of it, and the Brastle Tiger leapt on top of the Liger Zero.

The Salamander had been taken out of commission by that attack, and a Bear Fighter began to fir on the Brastle Tiger. The Brastle Tiger was knocked back, and a Konig Wolf fired six missiles, again throwing the Brastle Tiger into the air.

The Brastle Tiger landed several meters away. Although it was constantly taking damage, it wasn't close to being defeated. The Phoenix Team's Elephander began to fire on the Brastle Tiger.

The Brastle Tiger charged at the Elephander, firing its various weaponry as it charged. The Elephander was hit hard, but it managed to fire back, and the Brastle Tiger's armour began to crack in some places.

Despite this damage, the Brastle Tiger continued to advance. Blades extended from the Elephander's trunk and it grabbed the Brastle Tiger with its trunk, dragging it towards its tusks.

The Brastle Tiger tore into one tusk with it's fangs and attempted to break the Elephander head apart with its front claws. Within seconds, the Elephander was forced to release it, and collapsed.

The Bear Fighter shot the Brastle Tiger's neck. The Brastle Tiger was thrown backwards, a huge hole in its neck. However, the Brastle Tiger began to turn. As it turned, the Bear Fighter blasted the other side of its neck.

Even this damage wasn't enough to stop the Brastle Tiger, and it charged at the Bear Fighter, intent on taking out its fourth target. Before it could reach the Bear Fighter, it collapsed, smoke rising from its neck.

The Konig Wolf approached. Smoke was rising from the Konig Wolf's sniper rifles, which it had used to shoot through one of the holes in the Brastle Tiger's neck. The Phoenix Team was also victorious, despite taking a huge amount of damage.

The Slash Liger fired on the Diablo Tiger, which was dragging the strange machine behind it, failing to harm its armour even remotely. Then the Liger's blades extended and it shot past the Diablo Tiger, cutting into it with the blades.

However, the Liger's blades failed to break through the armour of the Diablo Tiger. The Diablo Tiger tried to strike with its claws, but it only succeeded in knocking the Slash Liger away.

The Diablo Tiger turned towards the Slash Liger, but both the Jet Falcon and Gildragon flew past, firing on the Diablo Tiger. The Diablo Tiger was shaken by their combined firepower.

Before anything else could happen, the Snipe Liger fired several explosives at the Diablo Tiger from launchers on its legs. The Diablo Tiger was shaken further by the resulting explosions.

The Diablo Tiger fired a metal sphere. It slammed into the Snipe Liger, sending it flying. The Snipe Liger crashed to the ground, defeated. The Jet Falcon flew towards the Slash Liger.

As the Slash Liger and Jet Falcon attempted to merge, the Killer dome fired on the Diablo Tiger with cannons located inside its pincers. The Diablo Tiger spun and kicked the Killer Dome, sending it flying away.

The Diablo Tiger fired a metal sphere. It slammed into the Gildragon and sent it flying to the right, spinning around in circles. The Diablo Tiger fired again, knocking the Gildragon out of the air.

Nick was able to keep the Gildragon standing even after it crashed. The Gildragon fired everything it could at the Diablo Tiger as it charged. The chains connecting the Zoid to the strange device were severed and the device tumbled away.

The Diablo Tiger leapt into the air, preparing to strike, when the Slash Liger suddenly slammed into it, knocking it to the ground. The Diablo Tiger recovered quickly and fired three metal spheres, knocking the Slash Liger and Jet Falcon to the ground.

"We've taken too much damage to continue fighting this thing." James reported. Unfortunately, the Diablo Tiger pilot hadn't noticed, and his Zoid continued to tear into the fallen Slash Liger with its claws.

Before it could strike again, the Gojulas Giga slammed into the Diablo Tiger, the impact sending it flying away from the Liger.

Within seconds, the Diablo Tiger had recovered, but the Gildragon slammed its horns into the Diablo Tiger's rear. The Diablo Tiger was forced towards the Gojulas Giga, so with no other choice, it fired another metal sphere.

However, a charged particle beam from the Dark Spiner obliterated this metal sphere, and slammed into the right front leg of the Diablo Tiger, blasting it off. The Diablo Tiger still struggled to stand.

Suddenly, the Diablo Tiger fired on the Gildragon with everything except its metal spheres. The Gildragon was thrown backwards by the immense amount of firepower, but it wasn't heavily damaged.

In retaliation, the Gildragon fired back. A single shot tore through the Diablo Tiger, and it collapsed. The remaining undamaged Zoids approached the four tigers. However, within minutes, everyone found that they couldn't open the tigers' cockpits.

With apparently no chance of finding out what had happened, the Whale King and Hover Cargo left once the damaged Zoids were loaded into them. Nobody noticed that the strange device, damaged by a single stray shot, was now glowing…


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm honestly surprised that people actually like this fanfic. I actually thought the first two sections would be hated by most people, so this section has less humour in it. If this section is rubbish, the next one will be more like the first two.**

Zoids – Dimension Crisis

The Hover Cargo of the Crusade Team continued to travel through the desert. Not surprisingly, the Hover Cargo was flying above it. They had been travelling for hours and hadn't reached anything.

"I don't know why, but that town seems to have disappeared." Jake reported, "At least, we're not getting closer to anything."

"The town can't have disappeared. Mainly because that isn't even possible." Dennis replied.

"I know it isn't possible." Jake tried to explained, "However, we should have reached it by now, but there's no sign of anything. It's almost as if the town has somehow been moved somewhere else."

"I don't think town normally vanish, or move to some random place." Frank said, "The only possibility I can think of, is that something is wrong with the Hover Cargo's equipment."

"If there's something wrong with the Hover Cargo's equipment, then the Whale King will also end up in the wrong place, since it's following us. But, if it's still following us-" Mark tried to reason.

"Then anything affecting our equipment must also be effecting the equipment of the Whale King." Nick realised, "But I can't believe that the equipment of two carriers would fail now."

"It was working perfectly when we reached that strange place where the weird battles were." Jake realised, "Maybe the stupidity of the ZBC has caused the Hover Cargo and Whale King to become crazy."

"If that happened, then everyone involved in those battles would probably have become crazy by this point." Dennis said, "But since we already are crazy, maybe it doesn't affect us."

"Well, that's one possibility." Jake agreed, "But what we haven't thought of yet, is that we might not be able to return to the town at all if this continues. Essentially, we have no idea where it is."

"That's true." Dennis said, trying to think of a solution "But if we use our other Zoids, we can cover more ground. Then our chances of finding this town will be much easier… although, I guess a lot of people would end up in random places."

"This is really strange." Nick said, "But last time we stopped, it was near that weird power plant. Although it appeared distorted, now I feel as if I'm seeing things distorted here, but I'm not."

"So you think you're seeing things distorted, even though you know you aren't?" Dennis asked, "But… if you know you're seeing things normally… then why would you think…"

"I have a very strange feeling." Nick added, without waiting for the end of the question, "It's almost as if we're going to be attacked by those four tigers again, even though we already defeated them."

"We don't even know who the pilots are." Lauren pointed out, "They must not have been injured if they prevented us from entering their Zoids' cockpits. Maybe they will attack again."

"I don't think we should have left them." Cheryl said, "They might not be injured, but we still left them in the desert, with no transportation, since their Zoids are badly damaged. Maybe we should turn back."

"We can't turn back now." James pointed out, "We've been travelling for hours and it will take too long to reach them."

"We don't even know if they were trying to kill us, but they attacked for no reason." Deirdre said.

"For all we know, they have their own equipment to repair their Zoids." Lauren reasoned, "They might not have automatic repair systems, because there was no carrier in sight, but…"

"If they repaired their Zoids… or even got them walking again, they could launch another attack on us. They must have been confident in their victory to attack, and they must be furious now." Dennis realised.

"Have you ever been furious hours after someone defeated you, just because you were confident that you could beat them?" Jake asked, "I don't think they would be furious by now."

"They might not be furious, but since they're clearly more mental than regular people, they could attack us again." Nick said, thinking that nobody was raking him seriously. Suddenly the Hover Cargo was severely shaken.

People were thrown around the Hover Cargo, and only Jake remained unmoved, still trying to pilot the Hover Cargo, which caused problems. The main problem being that the Hover Cargo was no longer moving.

"We've been immobilised." Jake reported. Suddenly, he realised something, "Besides the Whale King, nothing is showing up on radar… Zack, can you hear me? Is there some kind of stealth Zoid?"

"I don't think we would see one if there was one." Zack said, "But for some reason the Whale King's systems are failing. We're going to try to avoid colliding with the Hover Cargo-"

Everyone in the Hover Cargo was shaken by immense impact again, and Jake was knocked off his seat. This time, the impact had come from the Whale King slamming into the ground two feet to the left of the Hover Cargo.

"Okay, maybe we have no idea of what caused this, but we still have to investigate… mainly because we won't be moving anytime soon." Dennis said. Several people began to disembark from the Hover Cargo.

Outside Hover Cargo-

"The front of the Hover Cargo is distorted, as if it hit something huge and hard." Nick reported, "I don't know how this can happen, because even if we hit a stealth Zoid it should by lying on the ground, nearly obliterated."

"And it should have barely survived. It couldn't have shot the Whale King out of the sky with one shot without anyone noticing either. Something very strange is happening." Dennis realised.

"We couldn't have hit a Stealth Zoid anyway." Lauren stated, "Even if we were going to collide with one, the pilot should at least have the intelligence to move. It's not exactly hard to see a Hover Cargo approaching."

"Unless there was something in another direction that distracted him." Matt replied, "But, if he wasn't trying to attack anyone, he wouldn't have used his Zoid's stealth capabilities for no reason."

"There's nobody else around here, so the only reason he would use them is if he was going to ambush us. And if that happened, then he wouldn't just stand there and get crushed." Mark summarised.

"So there can't have been any stealth Zoid, but if that's true, what's just happened?" Mike asked. The Whale King's began to deploy the Zoids it had been transporting, with several obvious exceptions.

"Obviously, we can't pilot every Zoid onboard the Whale King, so the Tyrant Team and Artillery Team will have to launch their own Zoids from it." Zack announced from the Liger Zero.

"I understand. At least nobody is injured." Dennis replied. Not surprisingly, everyone very quickly realised that the Zoids that had been damaged before were now able to walk again.

"The repair systems must be very fast." Nick said, too surprised by the speed of the repair systems to think of any other words. There didn't seem to be any damage to the previously damaged Zoids.

"Okay, repair systems being exceptionally fast is one thing." Frank said, before pointing to a river, "But was there a river in the middle of the desert before? I really don't think there was."

"We've found a river?" Dennis asked, surprised, "I guess that might be important, to some people, at some point in the future, but now we really need to find a way to return to our homes."

"Agreed." John, the leader of the Sea Panther Team acknowledged, "But, since there's a river, we should be able to use it to search from the town much faster than on land."

"Well, its better than trying to cross the desert with Sea Panthers." Zack replied. The five Sea Panthers turned towards the lake and advanced towards it, and everyone remained silent for several minutes.

"We have no idea where we are now, so our best chance of finding the town, is to search for it in different directions." Zack suggested to his own team, the Decalto Team and the Warriors of Command.

"It's better than anything anyone else could come up with." Darren replied, "But the individual teams should stay together. There could be more crazy people with insanely powerful Zoids."

"If that happens, we might not have much chance against them anyway." Karl said, "Or at least, whichever team comes across them won't. But it's better than travelling individually."

Within less than a minute the three teams had left in different directions, leaving everyone's field of view, and Dennis walked towards the Whale King, approaching one of the open doors.

"Those teams could be searching for days before they find anything." Dennis pointed out, "We don't need that many people to stand near two damaged carriers. We're also going to try to find a way to return to the town."

"We should also leave." Mark said, "It's obvious that only one team needs to guard these carriers. The chances of finding some crazed Zoid pilots while travelling are much higher than them passing by the carriers."

"That is true." Jake agreed, "The chances of there being any crazed Zoid pilots shouldn't be that high, and if someone sees these damaged carriers they'll probably try to investigate."

Several minutes later, the two teams had launched their Zoids from the Whale King, and the Crusade Team watched as the other teams vanished from sight. Now they only had to wait for someone to discover the carriers.

A city, several hours later-

The Artillery Team Zoids began to arrive at the city. Not surprisingly, the four Zoids began to run, approaching the city at high speeds. They ran through a street, but they almost immediately became much slower.

"If we ran into a normal city at that speed, a lot of people would be yelling and trying to get out of the way." Mike said, "Although, there doesn't seem to be anyone… well, anywhere."

"Maybe this street isn't used very often." Mark suggested. After several seconds of silence, he added, "Although, this place is silent. This sounds weird, but it's as if there's nobody in this place!"

"The city can't be abandoned." Matt replied, "This place… well, it just can't have been abandoned. Everything is as if there were people here five minutes ago. Even if the city could have been abandoned that recently…"

"If they abandoned this place so recently, we would have at least seen some people leaving." Claire pointed out, "But, nobody was leaving. But it's almost disturbing; there could be people here right now."

"Maybe there are people here right now." Mike suggested, "We just assumed there's nobody here, but that's just because we haven't seen anyone, and that doesn't prove that nobody's here."

"It's not even getting dark, and even if it was, there should still be hundreds of people around. This city is huge and we should probably try to find someone now, if there even is anyone." Matt said.

"There's definitely something wrong with this city, but maybe everyone just moved to one location. Maybe there's some kind of strange event happening at that location now." Claire replied.

"It's possible." Mark agreed, "But so far, we don't really know what to except. The most important thing now is to reach some place where we can actually contact some people to rescue the carriers."

"That's right, but I think we've just found a reason why it could be very hard to find anyone who would contact those people." Matt said, sounding worried, and the Dark Horn stopped moving.

Standing in front of the Artillery Team Zoids, were many other Zoids, which stood unmoving. The Artillery Team were expecting an attack from them, but no attack came.

"At least we know the pilots aren't crazy." Matt said, "But, since we're trying to contact someone who can actually help, it would probably help if we left our Zoids now."

The Artillery Team disembarked from their Zoids and ran to this 'army' of Zoids. However, the Zoids remained standing and nobody tried to leave the cockpit; the Zoids just stood there.

"It's almost as if there's someone piloting them, but I don't think there is." Mark said, "Well, maybe the fact that they haven't moved helps, but why would people just leave them here?"

"If they're abandoned, shouldn't they actually be… well, different from Zoids that are maintained constantly?" Mike asked, "If these Zoids were abandoned, then the pilots can't have left long ago."

"They could still be around here somewhere." Matt suggested, "We haven't exactly checked the whole city, and these Zoids are next to a building. We could at least find out if the pilots are inside."

"Right now, that's probably the best option." Claire said, "Although, the Zoids are positioned as if they're preparing to attack. It's not easy for someone to climb into the cockpits."

"Obviously they don't want people to climb into the cockpits. The cockpits are also closed, which makes it harder to enter them." Mark agreed, "But that means they'll have difficulty entering their own Zoids."

"This is almost disturbing." Matt pointed out, "We need to find a place to contact some people so they can rescue the carriers… but right now, I think we should be searching for another city."

"This place is starting to seem like the creepiest place we've come across, but it has to be because we haven't met anyone yet. This can't be the first time something like this has happened." Mike tried to reason.

"It might not be the first time in history, but it's the first time it's happened to us." Mark replied, "At any rate, we can't just stand here discussing this. We should try to find someone."

The Artillery Team climbed into their Zoids' cockpits again. As the cockpits closed, the Artillery Team heard a series of loud noises. The unpiloted Zoids suddenly began to shake.

The Zoids advanced on the Artillery Team. Within a few seconds, the Artillery Team realised than most of the Zoids' cockpits were open, and the pilots were shouting random words and phrases aggressively.

A forest-

The Phoenix Team had approached a forest as they walked through the desert. Despite the fact that this was obviously strange, the Phoenix Team had decided to travel through the forest.

After walking through the forest for several hours, it had become obvious that this forest was larger than any forest they had seen before. There was no sign that they were even close to leaving it.

"It's getting darker now." Zack announced, "Either there are larger trees, preventing any light from getting through, or we've been here much longer than we should have been."

"We shouldn't have even entered a forest, because there shouldn't have been one." Fred, the pilot of the Bear Fighter, replied, "I don't know how there even is a forest in the desert."

"This definitely is strange." Zack agreed, "And I haven't been able to contact anyone from the other teams. These trees are making it impossible for the radio signals to reach them."

"Strange things have been happening since we tried to return to the city. I don't know how much longer we're going to be in this forest, but we have to reach the end of it eventually." Fred stated.

"Unfortunately, during that time everyone else will be waiting near the carriers for the people we're supposed to be contacting to arrive." Zack replied, "There must be some explanation for this forest."

"There hasn't been much information about anything." Greg, the Elephander pilot, said calmly, "But we should probably leave this forest. We know there shouldn't be one."

"So this is strange enough as it is. We don't need to wait for anything else to happen." Zack agreed, "We should be attempting to leave this area when we have the opportunity."

"We don't know when we will have the opportunity to leave this forest." Greg pointed out, "As far as we know, it just stretches onwards endlessly. Maybe that's why we haven't left yet."

"It can't be endless." Zack replied, "We'll find the end of this forest eventually. Considering how long we've been walking, we should be getting close to leaving this forest."

"We should definitely be closer to leaving if we continue walking than if we turn back." Neil, the Salamander pilot suggested, "But I still don't know how long it will take to reach the end of the forest."

"This is just a strange event that happened." Fred pointed out, "After we leave the forest, this could even seem like a funny thing to us. But right now, we still have to leave it."

"I don't even know what we're expecting to happen." Louise, the pilot of the Konig Wolf said, "Although, there's definitely something strange about this place… I don't know exactly what it is."

"There's definitely something strange about this." Greg agreed, "And it's not just that there shouldn't even be a forest. There could be something following us, but I don't think that's very likely."

"Well, there's nothing else on radar, so there's definitely no Zoids following us." Fred replied, "It could be some kind of animal, but I don't see why an animal would follow us."

"It's more likely that any animal here would run away terrified." Louise stated, "There's no reason why they would follow five Zoids around. They also wouldn't be trying to find a way to escape from the forest."

"They also wouldn't be crazy enough to want to escape from a forest." Fred replied, "Mainly because they live here. If there even area any animals here. But if an animal did follow us, it wouldn't be a threat."

"Unless they had evolved to eat anything and everything in their path, but the idea of that happening is ludicrous." Greg stated, "At any rate, there's still no sign that we're close to leaving the forest."

"It's surprising that the forest is so huge." Fred added, "But, even if we are in the biggest forest on the planet and somehow nobody has ever seen it before, we should have left it by now."

Suddenly, several Komodo dragons began climbing onto the Zoids, except for the Salamander. They attempted to tear through the Zoids' armour and at first everyone still thought there was no threat.

"These animals are crazy!" Fred shouted, "At least they're harmless, though. The idea of them breaking through the armour of our Zoids within minutes or even hours must be non-existent."

"Yes, but what happened when we try to leave the Zoids' cockpits?" Greg asked. Suddenly, one of the Komodo dragons smashed a hole through one of the Elephander's eyes.

Part of a desert, in which the carriers crashed-

"Standing here waiting for someone to find us is one thing, but I don't think we're ever really going to be attacked by people who want to invade the carriers. They can see the carriers are damaged." James stated.

"There's a mountain not far from here." Randy said, "Well, it won't really help if we're on a mountain, except that we would have a better idea of if there's really someone getting closer."

"That could help, in the unlikely chance we're actually being attacked." Jake said, "At any rate, its better than having no chance of survival against people who attack us. Maybe we should try to reach it."

"The Killer Dome can travel underground, but it's still going to take some time to reach that mountain." Randy stated, "But there shouldn't be anything wrong with our radio equipment."

"We can remain in contact, then." Jake said, "I guess it's at least better than failing to remain in contact with anyone."

"Although, the Killer Dome isn't exactly the most heavily-armed Zoid." Lauren stated, "If it gets attacked, Randy won't be able to fight the attacker for very long. Maybe he shouldn't leave alone."

"Maybe he shouldn't, but we need as many people to remain here as possible." Deirdre said, "We could still be attacked. If there were four crazed Zoid pilots, there's probably others."

"There could be, but that's also a reason why we can't leave someone to get killed by them." Cheryl explained, "The Snipe Liger should be able to blast anyone apart before they can attack us."

"Well, I guess there's no reason for you to remain here." Jake said, not able to think of any other response. Randy and Cheryl left the rest of the Crusade Team, running towards the transportation section.

A mountain, several minutes later-

Although nobody on the Crusade Team had seen the mountain when they passed it, the mountain was larger than most mountains.

The Snipe Liger finally reached the base of the mountain. Cheryl pressed a button to show the radar display and the Snipe Liger detected no Zoids in the area. However, the Snipe Liger remained where it was.

The Killer Dome began to emerge from underground. Very shortly after it emerged, there was no sign that anything had emerged from underground. Randy also detected no other Zoids on the Killer Dome's radar.

The two Zoids began to climb the mountain. Despite its large size, it didn't take them long to reach the top.

Immediately, the cockpit of the Snipe Liger opened, while a door deployed between the eyes of the Killer Dome. The pilots disembarked from their Zords, running towards the edge of the mountain.

"We can see a lot of things from here… unfortunately, nearly all of it is sand." Cheryl said, "At least we can see the carriers from here, but there's nothing else nearby. Maybe we should return to the Hover Cargo."

"I don't actually think we could return to the carriers fast enough if they were being attacked." Randy said, "Although, we could at least inform them that they're about to be attacked."

"I don't think that would help." Cheryl stated, "Even if someone wanted to attack the carriers, they wouldn't achieve anything by destroying two damaged carriers even if they had the opportunity to destroy them."

"I don't see why someone would want to attack two damaged carriers." Randy replied, "But apparently it's our mission to stay here and guard them from any attack."

"If they really wanted to attack two damaged carriers, we probably couldn't stop them." Cheryl realised, "Well, they're have to be deranged in some way to want to attack the carriers."

"Just because they're deranged, it doesn't make them invincible… well, really, I don't see the connection between those things." Randy said.

"But if they were deranged, they could be determined to destroy the carriers." Cheryl tried to reason.

"They could be determined to do anything, including hunting a very small dog." Randy replied, "But, we really don't know what a deranged person could be planning, if a deranged person even shows up."

Part of a desert, in which the carriers crashed-

"They've probably reached that mountain by now." James reported, "At least, the Killer Dome is nowhere in sight, so it could easily be somewhere on that mountain. Maybe they'll see something actually important."

"But they left less than a minute ago, and I don't think they reached any mountains. I would be surprised if the first teams that left have reached any mountains by now." Jake stated.

"In addition to which, the Killer Dome was travelling underground. It was always out of sight." Nick added.

"That is true." James agreed, "But so far, we _still_ have no idea of what's happening. Right now, nothing strange is happening, which I guess is better than if something strange was happening."

"Mainly because if something strange was happening, it's likely that it would be a threat to us." Lauren replied, "But, we're still stranded here, and barely anyone knows we're here."

"But we passed a power plant several hours ago." Jake pointed out, "We can at least contact the person who pilots that Gorhecks... well, if it's possible to return to the power plant."

"The Dark Spiner will be able to return to the power plant within less than an hour." Ted reported, "The only reason the Hover Cargo took several hours to get this far is because it's the slowest thing in reality."

"Actually, that's probably true." Jake stated, "But it's still pointless for anyone to try to travel that far by themselves. We don't even know if these weird events have ended yet."

"I can use the Gojulas Giga to travel to the power plant." Lauren suggested, "The Gildragon, Slash Liger and if it's ever operational, the Matrix Dragon should be enough to protect the carriers."

Power plant, 40-50 minutes later--

The Dark Spiner and Gojulas Giga stood outside the power plant. Strangely enough, the Gorhecks had been replaced by a Geno Saurer. The two people from the Crusade Team had entered the power plant.

"The Hover Cargo is really slow." Ted realised, "It took hours to get to where it is now. It would have been faster walking to the city than trying to reach it with a Hover Cargo."

"The power plant is deserted." Lauren stated, "But, at least one person should be here. There's a Geno Saurer outside, and I can't believe the pilot, who for some reason must work here, would-"

Suddenly, they heard a strange sound. The Geno Saurer was moved to one side suddenly, and a platform began to lower, lowering the Gojulas Giga and Dark Spiner out of sight.

Within a few seconds, they heard someone running down the steps. The pilot of the Geno Saurer they had fought during the battle involving five teams ran towards them, sweating so excessively that the stairs were drenched.

"They'll be heading this way soon." The power plant operator said, "If they saw anyone trying to reach this power plant soon, things will get much worse. Nobody's ever seen-"

"What is going on?" Lauren asked. The power plant operator pressed another button. Two platforms began to move across, slamming into reach other above the Gojulas Giga and Dark Spiner.

"Don't leave this building! They haven't come here before, not that I know of anyway. They're going to try to kill everyone they can find. We've known about them for some time, but the owner of the power plant wanted everyone to remain silent about them. I'm not remaining silent any longer." The power plant operator shouted.

The power plant operator ran to his Geno Saurer. The Geno Saurer ran around the power plant. It began firing at something unseen from the other side of the power plant. There was no sign if it was actually hitting anything.

Suddenly, there was a huge explosion. Part of the Geno Saurer's armour was sent flying through a wall. It crashed to the ground inside the power plant, and suddenly there was silence.

Outside power plant-

After several minutes had passed, the Crusade Team pilots had left the power plant and ran to the side where the Geno Saurer had been fighting. Pieces of it were lying everywhere.

The Geno Saurer's cockpit had been ripped open, and the power plant operator could be seen still sitting in the cockpit, because he had been pinned to his seat by many blades. Both he and his Zoid were missing parts of their limbs.

The Geno Saurer's head lay nearby. The Charged Particle Cannon barrel still extended from the Geno Saurer's neck despite the loss of its head. One of the eyes was shattered.

The Crusade Team pilots turned, but they saw no sign of whatever had caused this carnage. There were large footprints approaching the Geno Saurer and walking away from it, however.

Elsewhere in the desert-

The Warriors of Command had been travelling for some time now, but recently they had begun to notice a lot of water around the area. The team had been surprised, but they still continued walking.

"If we're this close to the lake, we must be close enough to contact the Sea Panther Team." Karl suggested, "They're travelling through this river, and if they haven't passed through here yet-"

"They can't have." Carl stated, "I can't believe part of this river leads to here. We were going in a completely different direction from them. This can only be a second river."

"I can't believe that." Karl said, "The idea of finding a river in the middle of a desert sounds impossible. We found one, but there can't be another one. It has to be another part of the same river."

"It has to be." Dave agreed, "We've been travelling for too long to be anywhere near that part of the river where the Sea Panther Team were…. Although, they could have come this way."

"It would be easier to find out if we can contact them." Carl said. After several seconds, he added, "I guess we can't… well, I just tried to reach them through the radio systems."

"Then they must be far away from here." Karl realised, "If they haven't passed by here, they must have gone in the other direction, which means they're probably headed towards the ocean."

"Then one team should still be able to contact them." Dave stated, "But I haven't been able to contact any of the other teams. I'm guessing we're simply too far away to reach them."

"I still don't understand most of what's happened so far." Carl admitted, "The carriers were damaged by some unseen force, apparently. And before that, those four Zoids launched their attack on us."

"We're lucky that the Whale King's automated repair systems can repair the Command Wolves so quickly." Carl said, "If it wasn't for that, we wouldn't be able to search for anything."

Suddenly, the ground under the Command Wolves began to shake. The Command Wolves were barely able to remain standing, and they were shaken to the point that their pilots struggled to not be thrown out of the cockpits.

However, despite the efforts of the Warriors of Command, the Command Wolves finally collapsed. But instead of hitting the ground, they somehow fell through it, falling much further than expected.

The Command Wolves landed shortly afterwards, but now the Warriors of command realised that they were in some kind of strange building. They disembarked from their Command Wolves.

"I know we just fell a really long distance, but we have to find a way to escape from here." Carl stated, "Not that I know where 'here' is, but this definitely isn't something that happens every day."

"We just fell through the ground and somehow ended up in a building." Dave pointed out, "It's obvious that this doesn't happen every day. I don't know how we're going to escape from here, but-"

"That could be harder than we thought." Carl stated, "In case nobody else noticed, there's no hole in the roof, even though we just fell through here. This is weirder than I thought."

"Maybe we can escape just by walking through this door." Karl suggested. Karl opened the door, and the Warriors of Command saw that they were on some kind of platform surrounded by water."

"Then this is almost certainly an oil rig." Dave realised, "But how we got here by falling through the floor is unknown. There must be some kind of explanation for this."

"This is really confusing. I'll shut the door now." Karl said. When he closed the door, everyone heard some strange sounds. Dave began to search for a light but he couldn't find one.

"I don't know what cause those sounds, but it must be nearby." Dave reasoned, "This room isn't that big… well, for a room that the Command Wolves can fit inside anyway."

"If something that's making these noises is in the room, either someone is being held captive here, or there's some very strange creatures in this room." Karl stated, "It's not that dark here, but we should…"

The Warriors of Command saw several eyes staring at them. Seconds later, they noticed that they could also see several large teeth. Despite not being in complete darkness, they didn't know what kind of creatures were in the room.

The Warriors of Command saw one of the creatures charging. Then there was a scream and someone dropped to the ground. The Warriors of Command ran, still searching for a switch for the lights.

Another part of the desert-

The Decalto Team had been walking for hours. Not surprisingly, everyone in the Decalto Team was tired, and they were still trying to find any sign of civilisation, but they saw nothing.

"I can't believe we've been walking for so long and haven't even left the desert." Darren said, "This desert must be much larger than we had expected. We might never leave it."

"We've been walking for too long without finding something. This definitely isn't normal." Claire stated, "We should have found something after travelling for so long."

"We should have, and I don't think anyone has ever walked for this long without finding anything." Colin replied, "Maybe things will start to make sense at some point. For now we can only continue walking."

"At this rate, we're not actually going to find anything." Louise replied, "Maybe the Hover Cargo crashed near the end of the desert and we're walking directly away from it."

"That would explain why we seem to be crossing the entire desert." John agreed, "But I don't think we could possibly be walking through the entire desert. If we were, we could never see another person again."

"Then we're probably never going to see another living person again." Ron replied, "If this continues, we'll probably die before leaving this desert. So far everything we passed was just masses of sand."

"That is true. We could even have been walking in circles for the last several hours." John realised, "But if that's true, then we can't be far from the Hover Cargo. Maybe we should try to contact the teams protecting it."

"Is anyone there?" Darren asked into the radio. After several seconds there was no response, "Either we're far away from the Hover Cargo, or there's nobody there to answer the radio."

"Then we're at least going somewhere. There are seventeen people near the Hover Cargo" John stated, "Unless we're walking around in huge circles and this is one part of the circle that's far away from the carriers."

Suddenly, a large amount of snow began to fall on the Zoids of the Decalto Team. They continued walking and as they walked, the amount of snow falling on them began to increase.

The Decalto Team approached a large wooden building. It quickly became obvious that there was no sign of anything that hadn't been covered by the snow. It wouldn't have been surprising if they forgot they were in a desert.

"I don't think it's supposed to snow in a desert." John announced, "I don't know why this is happening, but we really need to find a way to find out why it's actually snowing."

"This is very strange, but then again, everything that's been happening recently was strange." Ron stated, "We should leave our Zoids and investigate the building. Maybe it's important"

"The last building anyone stopped to investigate was that power plant, and things have got worse from then." Louise replied, "But it's better than standing here and gradually becoming more exhausted."

Inside building-

Darren had found the keys still in the lock. The Decalto Team had entered the building and found that everything was as if there were people living here, but a very quick search proved that there weren't any. They had decided to wait for whoever lived here to return. Once they returned, they would be able to contact people to rescue the carriers without leaving someone to think people had broken into their home. So far, only an Ice Blazer had passed by and it hadn't stopped.

"It's weird; it's almost as if someone left here today. But from what I've seen, there's nothing here that's specific to an individual. Everything here is very generic." Ron reported.

"So someone removed everything remotely personal to themselves, but they left a TV and other electrical equipment?" Darren asked, "I don't know why someone would make a decision like that."

"Maybe they're mental." Louise suggested, "Although, if they are mental, then things are about to get much worse. We should leave this place before they return and start acting crazy."

"If they left this place with anything remotely personal to them, they probably won't be returning for several months now." Claire replied, "Unless they normally live in the middle of a desert, anyway."

"But if they removed most of their things from here, they probably also live somewhere else." Colin tried to reason, "If they didn't, they wouldn't have anywhere to move everything."

A river-

The Sea Panther Team were headed towards the ocean, according to what their equipment was telling them. If they could reach the ocean, they could find a coastal town.

"We've been travelling through this river for hours and there's no sign that we're getting any closer to the ocean." Paul, the pilot of a Sea Panther, reported, "We should be there by now."

"That's right, we should have found something by now." Ian, the pilot of a second Sea Panther agreed, "Maybe nobody uses this river. At any rate, there's no sign off anyone travelling through it."

"Then we're going to have to find someone." Dean, the leader of the Sea Panther Team, stated, "That might not sound easy, but there has to be some chance of finding something."

"I don't think we're going to find something." Jade, the pilot of another Sea Panther replied, "We didn't know there was a river in the desert, so I don't think anyone else has ever seen it."

"I can't believe nobody else has seen this river." Jane, the pilot of the fifth Sea Panther said, "There must be some people who have some reason to be near the river."

"If there were, wouldn't people have heard about the river by now?" Dean asked, "Anyway, we seem to have found a river. Maybe we should inform people of this when we reach civilisation."

"We could inform people of this when we reach civilisation, but it might be better if nobody knows about it." Ian suggested, "So far we haven't seen any living creatures here."

"That's really strange." Paul replied, "There's no sign of any living creature? This lake must have been exposed to something in order for this to happen. I can't believe it's devoid of life."

"Well, I guess in a strange way, it's not really devoid of life because we're in it." Dean stated, "Well, us and something else anyway. I don't know what it is but it's just at the edge of the radar."

"It's at the edge of the radar?" Ian asked, surprised, "So… it's mechanical? That means there's someone else here. We didn't pass by anyone, so maybe it's following us."

"We're actually heading towards it." Dean replied, "At any rate, it's not a mechanical object. It shows up on the radar, but… it's as if the radar is confused, I guess. I don't know what it is."

"The radar is confused?" Jade asked, "We can see the shape of the river. The radar is informing us of the shape of the river, which prevents us from crashing into everything. Maybe this animal is very large."

"Maybe it consumed something metallic." Ian suggested, "Now the metal thing is showing up on the radar, which is also showing us where this animal is. Is it getting closer?"

"We're closer to it now. I think it's actually very close to the ocean." Dean stated, "It's just moving around randomly. We should see a large creature when we're close to the ocean."

"I don't think seeing a large creature when we're close to the ocean is a great idea." Paul realised, "We don't even know what it is, and it could attack us. Apart from the fact that it's huge…"

"It won't attack us." Jade replied, "Apart from us, nothing has been moving through here. If this creature was violent it would probably have attacked us by now. So we already know that…"

"So it can't be violent." Dean agreed, "Well, not by that logic anyway, but… if it attacks us, well, even if it has some reason to attack us, we should be able to drive it away."

"There's no reason we can't drive it away." Ian said, "I don't think it would be able to break through the armour of the Sea Panthers even if it decided to launch an attack against us."

"If it attacks us, we might have to fire on it." Dean said, "But if nobody's seen this river before, there could be an entirely new kind of creature living in this river. It could be important… scientifically, at least."

"And nobody has piloted a Zoid through here, assuming we've just found this river." Jane pointed out, "So this creature could react strangely to seeing our Zoids pass by it."

"That's true." Ian agreed, "We don't know how this thing will react. But maybe we're overreacting by worrying too much about how it will react. Maybe we can get past it with no problems."

The Sea Panther Team reached the end of the river and began to approach the ocean. However, they saw something approaching them. This was definitely not what they expected, and everyone but Dean was too shocked to react.

Somewhere in the desert-

The Tyrant Team walked through the desert. Most of the time they'd been travelling, they had seen nothing. But more recently, several large trees had come into their view, although they continued walking, with the 'forest' on their left.

Several minutes after that, the right side of the desert had suddenly been replaced with an immense amount of water! They assumed this was another part of the river and kept walking.

"Something is very strange about this." Frank announced, from the cockpit of his Battle Cougar, "We have been travelling for a long time now, and things keep getting stranger."

"There's a lot of strange things we're seeing here, but I don't understand why you think this is getting stranger." Dennis said, "At least this means we're probably getting closer to civilisation."

"We should have reached some king of civilisation by now." Mary replied, from the cockpit of an Iron Kong, "But, this water is the strangest part. We can't see the land on the other side."

"That's true." Susan agreed, from the cockpit of a Cannon Fort, "And if there's no sign of the land on the other side, then this can only be the ocean… which means, we've been travelling a lot more than we thought."

"If this is the ocean, then we shouldn't have difficulty finding a coastal town." Dennis realised, "But something else has to come first. We have to find out if there's anything here that's significant."

"Anything here that's significant?" Max asked from the cockpit of the King Baron, "Why would there be something 'significant'; on a beach. I don't see why a beach is unusual."

"Because, we couldn't possibly have reached a beach, even in the time we've been travelling." Dennis stated, "We should have come into contact with something else before finding a beach."

"I don't think I've ever seen a beach that just went on forever." Susan added, "This desert goes on for thousands of miles. It can't be a beach. We should have seen something besides sand before reaching this place."

"Susan, Max, go to the left and search for anything strange. Mary, we'll search the right of the beach. Frank, stay here so that we know where we're supposed to come back to."

"I knew you would give me the hard part." Frank said sarcastically, as the rest of the Tyrant Team turned away, walking along both sides of the beach in the search for something that could very easily not exist at all.

The Storm Tyrant and Iron Kong slowly advanced through the right side of the beach. After a while, they began walking on rocks. The rocks shook as the two Zoids continued to walk over them.

"I don't know why this part of the beach is almost entirely solid rock. Everything around it is just sand." Dennis stated, "I don't think its normal for this to happen. Something must be nearby."

"If something somehow brought us to this beach, maybe there would be something marking its location. But that means that if its some kind of creature nobody's seen before, it's staying in one place." Mary reasoned.

"It its some kind of cursed inanimate object, someone could have marked its location." Dennis suggested. The cockpit of the Storm Tyrant opened and he jumped out.

The cockpit of the Iron Kong opened. It was obvious that Dennis wasn't harmed, so Mary decided to jump out of the cockpit. Unfortunately, the rocks began to shake and the Iron Kong toppled over.

Mary landed on the ground, falling on one arm hard. Unfortunately, she also landed on a jagged rock and it cut her arm. The rock formation collapsed further and the Iron Kong fell out of sight.

"I don't believe it… we were on a cliff?" Dennis asked, realising for the first time that they had been some distance away from the 'ocean'. The Iron Kong fell to the ground below with a loud crash, but Dennis noticed something else.

"I think I found someone who may have brought us here." Dennis said almost immediately after the crash. Mary ran over and saw a coffin. It was open and someone who had obviously been a pirate lay inside it.

"I don't know who he is, but he's dead. The only way he could somehow transport us here, is if there was some kind of curse on his remains." Mary stated, not noticing blood from her cut arm pouring onto the corpse.

Suddenly, the corpse began to move. Dennis jumped backwards, surprised, while Mary leapt over the coffin. The pirate corpse began to stand. Mary turned to run, but the pirate impaled her with a sword.

Despite being impaled, Mary attempted to struggle against the pirate, but he pulled the sword out and cut into his victim repeatedly, causing her to fall to the ground, dead. Dennis turned and attempted to run.


	4. Chapter 4

**This section has more humourous things than the previous section. ** **There was something I was supposed to explain about this section, but I forgot what it was.**

Zoids – Dimension Crisis

The Dark Spiner and Gojulas Giga had been walking for several minutes, attempting to find whoever had blasted the Geno Saurer into pieces. So far, there had been no sign of them.

"The Geno Saurer pilot must have blown himself up purposely to avoid being insane any longer." Lauren realised, "If someone shot him they couldn't have got out of sight before anyone saw them."

"The Geno Saurer didn't just explode." Ted stated, "The person who attacked it shoved several blades through the pilot. Even if he was insane I doubt he would kill himself."

"If he killed himself, he wouldn't be able to make his Zoid explode." Lauren agreed, "But it could have been someone with some kind of Liger who fights anything with a charged particle gun for no reason."

Suddenly, the Dark Spiner jumped onto the Gojulas Giga's back. The Dark Spiner leapt off the Gojulas Giga's back, launching itself a considerable distance into the air, and it was soon out of sight.

Near the abandoned, snow-covered building-

The Dark Spiner fell out of the air, landing on the Blade Liger. The Blade Liger's was forced downwards by the impact, and the Dark Spiner attempted to fire at it but the guns were incapable of aiming low enough.

"Colin, a Dark Spiner just fell out of nowhere and landed on your Blade Liger. I think it's currently attempting to shatter the Liger's neck." Darren reported, watching from inside the building.

"A fat dragon sat on my Blade Liger once." Colin replied, "But it caused enough damage to the legs that we had to have spring-loaded devices attached to the Liger's legs."

The Liger was suddenly forced into standing position once again. This happened with immense force, through the Dark Spiner into the air and out of sight of everyone in the building.

Somewhere in the desert, near the power plant-

The Dark Spiner once again fell out of the air, slamming into the ground and lying motionless. The Gojulas Giga began to approach it, and eventually the Dark Spiner began to stand.

"Aren't we supposed to be searching for the person who blew up the Geno Saurer?" Lauren asked, "What was the point of launching the Dark Spiner to… how was the Dark Spiner even able to jump that far?"

"Well basically, everyone with a dinosaur Zoid with a Charged Particle Gun is given this contract that says they have to fight anyone with any kind of Liger whenever possible." Ted tried to explain, "But since they also realised that fights between Ligers and dinosaur Zoids with Charged Particle Guns make people buy models of those Zoids, they insist on putting battles like that in the script even when it's completely ludicrous."

"I have heard of several occasions when those kinds of Zoids fought each other for absolutely no reason." Lauren said, "But now the radar is malfunctioning. At least, I think it is. There's these dots that won't disappear."

"That is the point of a radar system." Ted explained, "See, right now you're thinking of a rad_io_, which is used for communications, whereas a radar system is used for finding out if something's approaching."

"That explains why there's dots on the radar." Lauren replied, "But, they're currently heading towards us… if I'm using this radio system thing right. They could be heading away from us."

"There are three very strange Zoids approaching that are different from any Zoids most people have previously seen. Although some people must have seen them at some point." Ted reported.

Three Zoids, which were known as Bio Megaraptors, sped towards the Gojulas Giga and Dark Spiner. They fired several shots, but completely failed to hit anything.

'These people must have worse aim than the A-Team.' Ted thought, firing the Dark Spiner's shoulder cannons. The cannons blasted the first Bio Megaraptor's head apart.

Unfortunately, the remaining two Bio Megaraptors became considerably more accurate. Or more specifically, they were now able to hit very large rocks, causing them to fall on the Gojulas Giga, knocking it to the ground.

A mountain-

"While we're standing here pointlessly, anything could happen." Randy stated, "We could even be ambushed by sheep-men, and forced to serve an army of sheep-men and an Emperor of the sheep-men."

"I don't think there are any sheep-men here… or anywhere." Cheryl replied, "Actually, if you believe sheep-men will be trying to capture us at some point in the future, you're probably an idiot."

"I'm surprised you've known me for so long, and only think that I'm 'probably' an idiot." Randy said, "But, since we haven't seen any sign of anything here, we should probably return to the carriers."

"But the fastest way to reach the carriers is by running down the mountain, and if we tried to run down the mountain we could fall to our deaths." Cheryl realised, "So we can't return to the carriers."

"That could be a problem." Randy agreed, "Although, we don't actually have to walk down the side of the mountain. It is possible for us to travel down the mountain much more slowly."

"That must be the first intelligent plan anyone on this team has ever had. Even if it doesn't change anything important." Cheryl said, as she turned and walked towards the Snipe Liger.

"I know it's unusual for anyone from our team to have a good idea, but that doesn't mean we have to constantly struggle in order to actually achieve something." Randy said. Randy boarded the Killer Dome.

Cheryl climbed into the cockpit of the Snipe Liger. Immediately, something slammed into the Snipe Liger. This was a large Triceratops-based Zoid, which was named Bio Tricera. It shoved the Snipe Liger off the cliff.

Cheryl attempted to close the cockpit. The cockpit closed but the Snipe Liger slammed into the ground. Amazingly it remained in one piece. Despite this, Cheryl was knocked unconscious by the impact.

'Maybe I should leave now.' Randy thought. The Killer Dome tried to walk away, but two Bio Triceras rammed the Zoid, crushing it with their horns. Randy screamed as he realised he had forgot to set the VCR.

The crash site of the carriers-

"Nobody's returned yet." James reported, "Somehow, I'm getting the idea that everyone is trying to find an excuse to abandon us, and our pitiful excuse for a base. But it won't work"

"It won't work?" Deirdre asked, "But they're already left. In order to stop them abandoning us, you would have to go back in time, which, theoretically, means you would have to run faster than the speed of light."

"I have no intention of running faster than the speed of light!" James shouted, "However, I have every intention of using my Slash Liger to drag the people who abandoned us back to the carriers."

"That's not really a good idea." Jake said, "If you leave now, the all we have to defend the Hover Cargo is the Jet Falcon. I don't think the Jet Falcon could protect us."

"We also have a Gildragon." Nick reminded everyone, "Is it that easy to forget about me and my Zoid after I just won a very strange, very stupid battle for everyone? And we have a Matrix Dragon…"

"Yes, but who would want to pilot that Matrix Dragon?" Jake asked, "We know Randy worked on it, and if Randy worked on it, then… well, I'd expect it to explode when the cockpit opens."

"Well, that is one drawback, but it's still worth using when you normally pilot a Hover Cargo that happens to be a piece of junk." James tried to reason, "Anyway, I really should find them."

"Wouldn't it make more sense for me to find them?" Nick asked, "Since you barely even remember when I'm here, what difference is it going to make if I leave this place?"

"Well, it would help in that we won't have to pretend we can tolerate you anymore." Deirdre said, "But, apart from that, isn't it easier to find them since your Zoid can fly?"

"Well, there is that. But mainly I want to leave this place for a few minutes so that I can imagine I'm stranded with people who aren't annoying." Nick replied, turning towards the Gildragon.

"Well if you're leaving, I think some people headed towards that mountain. Apart from that, I have no idea where anyone else is, so you should probably forget about them." Jake suggested.

"Well, I already forgot who they were, so I guess forgetting that they even exist won't be that much of a change." Nick admitted, boarding the cockpit of the Gildragon. The cockpit closed prematurely, causing him to collapse.

Nick fell off the Gildragon's head and held onto a cannon on its neck. Nick tried to climb back up to the Gildragon's head but the Gildragon inexplicably began to fly away by itself.

As the Gildragon flew out of sight, the members of the Crusade Team still on the ground saw Nick attempting to climb onto the Gildragon's head, but the Gildragon left their field of vision before they could find out what was happening.

"Hopefully he at least survived for a few seconds." James said, "But even if he is still alive, I guess that's just something we have to accept. Hopefully he remembered he's supposed to be flying towards the mountains."

Near the ocean-

Dennis had run to his Storm Tyrant and was currently piloting it away from the cliff as fast as he could. While he was surprised that a pirate had returned to life, he knew he would die if he hesitated.

Not far from him was Frank, who had been ordered to stay behind so that everyone knew where they were. Dennis wasn't too worried about that, and his Storm Tyrant proceeded to run past the Battle Cougar.

"What's going on?" Frank asked. The Battle Cougar flew into the air, following the Storm Tyrant, "Wasn't everyone supposed to meet back where I was standing? That plan won't work now."

"This crazy pirate guy came back to life." Dennis stated, "And then he killed Mary and somehow in the process of all this the Iron Kong fell off a cliff, fell a very long way and shattered into pieces."

"And now you're running from him?" Frank asked, "Now, I know you're meant to be in command, but you're missing the very obvious solution, which would end this entire problem."

"Well I may be confused right now, and maybe that's why I don't see this 'solution', but I still think you're imagining the 'solution' because, well, you've never fought an undead guy." Dennis said, clearly terrified.

"It's true that I haven't, but you could easily have used your Zoid's supercharged particle cannon and blown him away." Frank stated, "So I don't understand why you're running."

"But, he brought us here somehow!" Dennis shouted, "I don't know how he's capable of transporting us to this location, but somehow he brought us here. It's obvious that he has supernatural powers."

"I haven't believed in supernatural powers since I found that Max smelling really, really bad was completely natural." Frank said, "Anyway, there's no point in running even if all of this is true."

"Why not?" Dennis asked, "I know your idea of blasting him apart has some logic, but if it doesn't work, then he'll be even more pissed off than he was before. We should find the others."

"They are supposed to be heading this way." Frank pointed out, "So you're not really going to achieve something by 'finding' them, since we're going to see them at some point anyway."

"Yes, but if we wait that pirate will catch up with us." Dennis replied, "Well to be honest, he won't catch up with you because he can't possibly have the ability to fly, but…"

"Why are you running this way?" Max demanded, "Earlier you gave us the order to go to where Frank was. Are you trying to confuse everyone in the entire human race? Wait… why would anyone want to?"

"They're not intending for us to be confused." Susan realised, "That would be pointless, since we are trying to find a way to survive. Anyway, we've found this strange wooden building."

Inside a wooden building-

"Maybe entering a wooden building wasn't such a great idea." Dennis stated, "This building only has one room, and two doors, so I won't be surprised if he finds us in this room."

"I don't know who you're talking about, but whoever owns this place obviously can't even afford any _furniture_." Max replied, "I don't know what kind of person lives here, but probably a stupid idiot."

"Is it possible for an idiot not to be stupid?" Frank asked, "Or is a stupid idiot an idiot who's stupid by idiots' standards? If idiots thought of someone as stupid, since they're idiots, would that person actually be intelligent?"

"That's not the main problem now." Dennis said, "We found out what brought us here when we were searching. But there's another problem. It started when the Iron Kong fell off a cliff-"

"Apparently Dennis and Mary somehow caused the Iron Kong to fall." Frank informed everyone, "And somehow they ended up on a cliff, so it fell a long distance and smashed into pieces."

"That's the worst thing that's happened so far." Susan realised, "Now we can't sell it, buy a smaller Zoid, and give the profit to whoever owns this place so they can afford some furniture."

"Not only that, but we can't even ell it to the person who owns this place, denying them the chance to ever be able to afford any furniture, with the result that they get annoyed to death." Max stated.

"If we wanted them to get annoyed to death, we could just make sure they were in the same room as you for the rest of their lives!" Frank shouted, "Then we won't have to salvage that Iron Kong."

"This is a serious situation." Dennis attempted to inform the other members of the Tyrant Team, "Mary was killed by some weird pirate… well, actually a weird, _undead_ pirate."

"I don't think anyone's ever going to believe that." Max replied, "I know you're our leader, and we have respect for you, but really, if you expect us to believe that… well, really, we can't."

"I don't understand why!" Dennis shouted, "We're lost in this weird place… well, maybe we're not lost, exactly, but, we still need to find civilisation, and there's no point of practical jokes here…"

"There may be no reason for playing practical jokes on anyone, but it's obvious that you are." Max replied, "Maybe I should be in charge of this team, since obviously I am mental."

"Don't you mean you're not mental?" Susan asked, "Wait, I just realised that Max said that. Anyway… well… even if there is a pirate, I don't think he would start killing people."

"I thought pirates tended to kill people." Max said, "Or at least steal things from people, or take people captive. Regardless of what's actually happened, I don't think there's a pirate here."

Someone walked past one of the windows of the building. This shocked everyone significantly, because they were surprised that the person who owned this building could afford windows.

"The pirate is outside." Dennis realised. This caused the rest of the Tyrant Team to start laughing, surprised that their leader was still trying to make them believe something about an undead pirate.

Somewhere in the desert-

The Dark Spiner was running from the two Bio Megaraptors. For some unknown reason, a Gun Blaster, which had no pilot, had begun to follow the Dark Spiner around. More often that not, it was getting in the way.

A severely damaged Killer Dome was sent flying. It slammed into the Gun Blaster's head and caused it to collapse, unconscious. The impact sent the Killer Dome flying through the air, towards the Dark Spiner.

'This has to be the most convenient random thing that's ever happened.' Ted thought, as he pressed a button to initiate the fusion. The Dark Spiner's shoulder cannons detached, attaching to the top of the Killer dome's pincers, despite the fact that the Killer dome was still out of control. It landed on the Dark Spiner's sail. Suddenly, the Killer Dome's cockpit door fell open. As the Bio Megaraptors approached, Randy, either dead or terribly injured, fell onto the Dark Spiner's nose.

'This dead guy is blocking my vision!' Ted thought. In desperation he fired the Killer Spiner's pincer cannons, blasting one Megaraptor's arm off, and the chest cannons, blasting a hole next to the Megaraptor's leg, but in continued to charge.

The Killer Dome's pincers turned towards the Spiner's head as the Megaraptor advanced. From their new position, the Dark Spiner's shoulder cannons fired, blowing a hole in the Megaraptor's head and neck, and it collapsed.

The remaining Bio Megaraptor fired several shots wildly. Most of them missed, but one hit the Killer Spiner's knee, piercing the armour and causing it to collapse. The impact caused Randy to fall off the Spiner's nose.

Another shot struck the Killer Spiner's neck. The cockpit was shaken severely. Ted tried to make the Killer Spiner stand, but the neck was damaged too badly for it to move. Before the Megaraptor could fire, a Gustav slammed into it!

The Gustav proceeded to run over the Bio Megaraptor, sending pieces of it flying everywhere. The two platforms being pulled behind the Gustav also ran over the Megaraptor. The second platform, however, couldn't move off the Megaraptor.

The Megaraptor exploded. The second platform and the Geno Saurer on it were engulfed by the explosion. Instead of destroying the Geno Saurer, the explosion caused it to shrink!

"Darn, now I'll never be able to reach the cockpit!" The Sherriff who had been involved in saving James's Slash Liger from sinking into a tar pit shouted as he disembarked from the Gustav's cockpit.

'The Killer Spiner isn't going to be able to walk back to the Hover Cargo.' Ted thought, watching as the Sheriff attempted to use the Gustav's radio, but he failed to contact anyone.

"If you need communications equipment, you can use the equipment on my Killer Spiner. It can't walk, so it has to be transported by the Gustav. The Killer Dome's pilot is also injured." Ted announced.

"I don't even know how I got to the desert." The Sheriff said, walking past the first platform, "But yes, I guess I need the best communications systems possible." In less than two minutes, the Killer Spiner was placed on the second platform.

It was hard not to notice the motionless Gun Blaster. Ted approached it as the Gustav began to leave. However, two Zoids couldn't fit on the second platform, and the Killer Spiner accidentally knocked the miniature Geno Saurer off.

A river-

The Sea Panther Team had reached the end of the river, where they saw a large creature that was a large fish, but its jaws had large plates-like teeth and it had tentacles… basically resembled a Dunkleostreus with tentacles.

"Aren't Dunkleostrueses supposed to be extinct? And aren't they supposed to not have tentacles?" Ian asked, "It's a good thing that everyone who becomes a Zoid pilot must first become an expert on obscure prehistoric sea creatures."

"I never thought we would ever use that information." Jane admitted, "But, this creature is supposed to be predatory, isn't it? Maybe that's why there's nothing else alive here."

"We should just leave. It's not really important that we just found a mutated Dunkleostreus." Paul realised, "It's very large, but it shouldn't be capable of harming us."

"I don't think we should underestimate something that… has no reason to actually attack us." Dean said, "Okay, maybe we can get past this thing without anything stupid happening."

"Maybe if we had actually bothered to use some other Zoids instead of five Sea Panthers, we wouldn't be in this situation." Ian suggested. The Sea Panthers sped past the Dunkleostreus creature without anything happening.

"Well, we've made it. Maybe we should celebrate by firing off torpedoes randomly." Paul suggested. Paul's Sea Panther fired three torpedoes. One of them slammed into the prehistoric creature.

The Sea Panthers began to turn, but the strange sea creature shot forward and slammed into Paul's Sea Panther, causing it to be sent flying forwards. It crashed into a large rock.

"A large fish is attacking me… wait, that isn't actually scary." Paul realised. The Sea Panther began to move away from the mutated prehistoric fish. The cannon on top of its shell spun to face it.

The Sea Panther rejoined the other Sea Panthers, while their 'enemy' continued to sit where it was, watching as the Sea Panthers turned and began to walk towards the coastline.

"I don't really find fish threatening." Paul stated, "But maybe firing torpedoes for no reason was a bad idea. Anyway, that fish has more power than I expected, but it's not really a threat."

The mutated fish shot forwards, slamming into the Sea Panther. It was sent tumbling across the sea bed. The Sea Panther rolled onto its feet and fired many shots from its cannon, striking the mutated sea creature with no effect.

"I don't think shooting at it is a good idea." Dean suggested, "Well, if I remember correctly, aren't Dunkleostreuses supposed to be armoured? Anyway, your shots aren't actually harming it."

The mutated fish shot forward, biting the Sea Panther and attempting to crush it. The Sea Panther was quickly entangled by the mutated fish's tentacles and they also began to crush it.

"I know things just got worse but… did any of us really consider him to be our friend?" Dean asked. The remaining Sea Panthers sped away from the mutated fish, which began to chase them.

Abandoned oil rig-

The Warriors of Command had finally found a light, but when they turned the light on, they had found that they were alone. The creatures that had attacked were nowhere in sight.

Unfortunately, the man who had been attacked was also nowhere in sight. The creatures must have dragged him away with them when they left, but there was no sign of where they went.

"I don't know how we got here, but now there's these strange creatures killing people." Dave reported, "We don't even know if there's anyone else near this place, but maybe-"

"Well to be honest, they didn't kill _people_." Carl said, "They only killed a person. Possibly. Well, we haven't seen any proof that he's dead, so maybe he's still alive for some reason."

"It's not just that." Karl added, "So know we're surrounded by water, so it's not really that likely that there's going to be anyone near here, even thought we have reached civilisation."

"So because we're surrounded by water, that means we'll never see anyone again?" Carl asked, "But that's impossible. I'm seeing people right now, unless I'm hallucinating."

"Well, you're not hallucinating!" Dave shouted, "The reason you're seeing other people, is because we ended up in this weird place at the same time, because we were travelling together."

"Maybe we were, but you can't change the fact that I can see other people!" Carl shouted, "Oh wait, that doesn't actually help us to escape from this situation. So what should we do, exactly?"

"We could try to contact Gordon." Karl said, "Unless something happened to him or his Zoid, he had a Mad Thunder and he can wipe out these creatures without even trying."

"We're not part of the ZBC army now." Carl reminded him, "Now we're part of a team called the Warriors of Command… so even if we could contact him, I highly doubt he would listen."

"How would a Mad Thunder get here?" Dave asked, "Okay, so far we've seen random stuff happening, involving someone we're supposed to care about dying, but…"

"Well, we fell through a hole in the ground and ended up here." Karl pointed out, "So it makes sense that our only chance to survive now, is if Gordon falls through another hole."

"Yes, but we have no idea what part of the desert we were in, and anyway, I don't even think a Mad Thunder could fall through a hole in the ground. It's too big to fall through." Dave said.

"That could cause us some problems." Carl said, "But now that we know it's too big to fall through, what chance do we have of surviving now? It will never get here and if these creatures really exist, there's a slight chance we could die."

"Well, there is some chance we could die, but why wouldn't there be?" Dave asked, "Anyway, our Command Wolves can defeat anything that tries to enter this room, even if…"

"Well, for one thing, I don't think there's any real chance of our Zoids being able to fit through the doors." Robert, the last pilot from the Warrior of Command, pointed out.

"You know, we've never actually seen a door since we got here, except for that one door that leads to the ocean." Carl realised, "But if we tried to leave through that exit we could drown."

"I thought we were supposed to learn to swim in order to actually join the ZBC?" Carl asked, surprised, "What would have happened if your Command Wolf fell into the ocean?"

"Well see, that could never happen because Command Wolves never fall into anything, or have anything wrong with them at all." Karl tried to explain, "That's why my Command Wolf is invincible."

"Yes, but it's also why all Command Wolves are invincible." Carl said, "They're blatantly superior to Arosaurers, and comparing them to Iguans is a joke. Iguans are far inferior."

"That's great, but it's not going to save us now." Robert said, "Those creatures know they can't defeat the Command Wolves, which is exactly why they've avoided them completely."

"You may have something there." Dave realised, "Now, if we could return to the Command Wolves' cockpit, there's no way the creatures could attack us, because they would be scared to attack."

"Yes, but then we would have another problem." Carl said, "So far, we know that there's only one door… that we've actually seen, anyway. But the Command Wolves cannot fit through it."

"Didn't we fall through the roof?" Robert asked, "We know we got here by falling down a hole, so the hole in the roof must be invisible. We can jump through it to escape.

Robert ran to his Command Wolf and boarded it. Before he cockpit had even closed, the Command Wolf leapt towards the ceiling. It slammed into the ceiling and fell to the ground.

"The ceiling is so tough that not even a Command Wolf can break through it." Robert realised, "Now, this could be a premature assumption, but the ceiling must be completely invincible."

"It's obvious how we have to escape from here." Karl suddenly realised, "The door isn't big enough for us to escape, so we have to blast a hole in the wall and escape through it."

"That's one solution, but I'm not sure if it's going to work." Dave said, "For one thing, I might not be that intelligent, but I think an _oil_ rig has a large amount of _oil _somewhere on it. If that's true it could explode."

"Then we have some kind of problem here." Karl realised, "Although, if we can't shoot anything, then we're stuck in this room until those creatures return. Even if we kill them it won't change anything."

"Even if they don't exist in the first place it won't change anything!" Robert shouted, "But we wouldn't even know if that person who's on this team, but I can't remember his name just left and, in reality, we imagined the creatures."

"We didn't imagine any creatures!" Dave shouted. Dave was gradually getting angrier, mainly because his team were apparently incapable of having a conversation that wasn't completely stupid.

Inside the abandoned, snow-covered building-

"I still don't understand what's going on here." John stated, "And why was I given a crappy Zoid like a Parablade, that doesn't really serve any purpose except to combine with a Death Raser?"

"Maybe because we have a Death Raser… wait, that's _too_ convenient." Darren realised, "Were you sent here to spy on us, knowing that we... aren't actually planning anything?"

"Why would the ZBC send someone with a Parablade?" Ron asked, "We know they're all paranoid, but I don't think anyone in the ZBC can be trusted to remember what fuses with what."

"That is true." Claire agreed, "But I think we should be more concerned with the Dark Spiner that suddenly appeared and got catapulted into the distance recently. Doesn't anyone else find that strange?"

"Yes, but by now it could be anywhere." Colin pointed out, "Well really, the only thing that resisted the spring-loaded leg attachments was gravity. So that Dark Spiner could be anywhere on this planet."

"I guess that's one reason not to worry about it. But we don't know if there's a radio in this place. And if there is, we can contact someone and report the crashed carriers." Ron suggested.

"Actually, this place only contains very generic things." Louise reminded everyone, "I doubt there will be a radio… well, the kind we can talk through, anyway. But there must be a phone somewhere."

"Do phones even exist, or were they just invented to terrify everyone?" Colin asked, "Then again, there probably is one at my house, except that I live on a Gustav, so I haven't been to my house in years."

"That brings up something very interesting." Louise pointed out, "When we finally get back to the town, shouldn't we buy a carrier that's designed to carry more than two Zoids?"

"It also brings up the fact that none of us have gone home in years, and that for the most part we have to sleep in the cockpits of our Zoids, because a Gustav isn't designed to carry six people." Darren said.

"That may explain why everyone on this team is so mental." John realised, "Well, except for me. But that's because the cockpit of a Parablade is so small that not even insanity can enter."

"Shouldn't we be trying to find a phone by now?" Claire asked, "It's better than trying to hide a Chimera Dragon in the spare tire compartment of a Gustav. Even though Gustavs probably don't have tires."

"I've been too irritated by everyone else to find out." John said, "Although, the trailers have wheels, so that's probably the reason for a spare tire compartment… why do we have a Chimera Dragon?"

"One reason would be because it has… well, it has something… why does anyone need anything?" Colin asked, frustrated "It doesn't matter. We just have a Chimera Dragon. There doesn't have to be an explanation."

"Anyway, the person who normal lives here probably took the phone outside and dropped it and now it's covered by snow." Louise reasoned, "We all know that that would be the most inconvenient thing, so it's probably what happened."

Outside the building-

The Metalrhimos had walked some distance from the building, and now it was so far away, that actually seeing it was almost impossible. Ron started to think this was a bad idea.

"I haven't found anything yet." Ron reported through the communications systems, "I don't know why someone would take their phone out here, but regardless, I haven't found it."

"Hopefully you'll find something before you suffocate to death." John replied through the radio systems, "Wait a minute… why doesn't anyone ever suffocate to death in a Zoid cockpit?"

"Maybe air enters the cockpit somehow." Ron suggested, "Yes, that seems like a good idea… maybe the cockpit is _ventilated_ somehow. At least, it gets enough holes put in it from crashing into things."

"But not all Zoids have holes in their cockpits, because they don't all crash into things all the time." Louise said through the radio. Louise was currently using the Fire Fox to find the phone.

"Wait, if there's ventilation, shouldn't there be some snow getting through?" Colin suddenly asked, "Because if there is, then there's probably snow in every Zoid cockpit."

"Well, I haven't seen any snow in this Zoid's cockpit." Ron said, "Except for the snow that entered through the holes in the cockpit. There's still no sign of the phone. It could be anywhere, _even under a bed_."

"Now that I think about it, it probably is under a bed." Claire realised, "I don't know for certain, but maybe there's a phone under the bed and this search was a waste of time."

"That's not very reassuring." Ron replied. Suddenly, he was shaken as something slammed into the rear of the Metalrhimos. The Metalrhimos was unmoved, but Ron heard something else get squashed.

"That's the last time I charge at a Zoid much larger than mine." The pilot of an Ice Blazer said, as his Zoid slowly backed away, struggling to remain, as its legs were now half as wide as they were supposed to be.

"Maybe I should go home now. But it takes at least five minutes to get there." The Ice Blazer pilot said to himself, as his Ice Blazer turned and slowly began to walk away from the battlefield.

'This is strange… one person is piloting an Ice Blazer, while another is piloting a Zeek Dober. The Ice Blazer makes sense, but why would someone bring a Zeek Dober here?' Ron thought.

Suddenly, the Zeek Dober began to fire on the Metalrhimos. Ron was surprised, but he attempted to return fire. To his surprise, none of his shots actually hit the Zeek Dober.

"Does anyone know if wind and snow can cause missiles to miss their target?" Ron asked into the radio. The Zeek Dober fired several more times, rocking the Metalrhimos severely.

As the Zeek Dober got closer, the Metalrhimos turned and attempted to impale the Zeek Dober with its horn. The Zeek Dober turned to one side to avoid the horn and continued firing.

The crash site of the carriers-

The Gildragon was flying back towards the carriers. It was also trying to hold onto the Snipe Liger, which everyone could see was severely damaged. There was no sign of the Killer Dome.

"I found Cheryl and her Zoid at the bottom of the mountain." Nick reported through his radio, "I haven't seen any sign of any other Zoids, though, and I don't think she accidentally made the Snipe Liger fall off the mountain."

"Maybe the Snipe Liger ran into the side of the mountain." Deirdre suggested, "Not many Ligers attempt to run into things, but there must be some, so that Snipe Liger must be one!"

"Not many of _anything_ attempt to run into things." James pointed out, "If they were going to run into something, they would probably run into something that wouldn't leave them crippled."

The Gildragon arrived at the crash site. It almost landed, but instead it released the Snipe Liger. Then it landed next to the Snipe Liger and Nick climbed out of the cockpit.

"Not many things I've seen are capable of knocking Snipe Ligers off mountains." Jake said, "Well, to be honest, I haven't seen many Snipe Ligers standing _on_ mountains."

"Until Cheryl regains consciousness, we won't have any idea what's actually happened." James realised, "Well, at least we can avoid thinking of weird things that could have happened."

"This time, it's probably better if we don't think about the possibilities." Deirdre agreed, "The problem now is that nobody's reported anything. We don't know if anyone's found civilisation yet."

"This is a huge desert." Nick pointed out, "We have no idea how big it is. But then again, I guess we've never had a reason to think about that. Maybe nobody's been able to reach civilisation yet."

"Maybe it's because the Zoids on the ground are holding back the Zoids that can fly." Deirdre suggested, "If we'd only sent the flying Zoids, maybe we wouldn't have to wait for so long."

"But all the flying Zoids usually fly close to the ground. Or maybe that's just because they want everyone to know they're travelling around with several Zoids that can't fly." James stated.

Unknown to the Crusade Team, a large amount of Bio-Zoids was starting to walk towards them. For the last several minutes, the army had been getting gradually larger until it reached its current size.

Elsewhere in the desert-

The Gun Blaster was walking back in the direction it had originally come from. The miniature Geno Saurer was standing on top of the Gun Blaster. The Gun Blaster stopped when it reached a pile of rocks.

The tail of the Gojulas Giga was clearly visible extending from the rocks. The Gun Blaster began to kick rocks away until the Gojulas Giga was no longer buried. The Gojulas slowly began to stand.

A strange city, somewhere-

The Zoids of the Artillery Team had been hidden behind a building, which the Artillery Team themselves had entered. There had been no sign of the giant army of Zoids.

"This is stupid." Mark said, "We're supposed to be finding someone who can contact the emergency services and inform them of the crashed carriers. But there's many, many people outside."

"Yes, but they want to kill us for some reason… some reason we know nothing about." Claire stated, "We can't going outside now, or they will try to kill us. We can't fight all of them anyway."

"We could try to." Matt suggested, "Or at least, we could try running from them. There have to be some sane people somewhere in this city, and I'll find them regardless of what colour the sky is."

"Is this a new version of 'whatever the weather'?" Mike asked, "We really don't need anymore versions of that phrase. Anyway, for all we know, everyone here could be insane."

"Everyone could be insane, but they also might not be." Matt realised, "Because of that, our only chance is to find someone and just assume they're not insane, no matter what the consequences are."

"I think you've lost it." Mark said, "But then again, that would require you to have had sanity before. Now, there has to be some way to escape from this city and its army of crazy people."

"There has to be." Claire agreed, "But since they have so many Zoids, would they really notice if they suddenly had four more Zoids that they're supposed to have? Maybe we don't need to fight them."

"Yes, but all of their Zoids are somehow kept clean at all times." Mike stated, "Their Zoids are even more devoid of any kind of hint they've ever seen action than most Zoids that have just come into existence."

"There's something very strange about that." Claire replied, "But that's true. They would notice our Zoids were different from theirs. But couldn't we just leave the city without running into them?"

"For an army, they really aren't that great of thinking of tactics." Mark realised, "Their entire plan seems to be a huge group of Zoids running around the city in search of us."

"That has to be the worst plan ever thought of." Mike said, "I'm not sure if I understand everything about the situation. But since they're always in the same place, we shouldn't have a problem leaving."

"It shouldn't be that hard to get past them." Mark agreed, "They were just standing there when we found them, so maybe if we leave, they won't follow us out of this city."

"They could be completely incapable of following us." Matt realised, "However, we still have to find a phone that works. But in order to find one, someone will have to go outside."

"Going outside right now seems like a bad idea." Mike said, "We don't even know where that army of Zoids is right now, but they could easily be nearby, and if they are, we could be killed."

"But that doesn't change the situation." Matt said, "We still have to find something we can use to contact people, and we still have to get out of this city before things get worse."

"That is the situation." Claire agreed, "But we can't leave this place until we know where this army of Zoids is. We could leave this place, but the result would probably be our deaths."

"I'm tired of sitting here talking about how we're doomed." Matt said, "Maybe we are doomed, but at least I'm going to go outside and try to find something… preferably something useful. But something useless is also acceptable."

"Something useless may be 'acceptable', but it's not going to save us now." Mark replied, "Actually, I think Matt has the right idea. We should find a way to contact people and leave."

"Anyway, even if we are going to die here with no hope of survival, I should leave here alone." Matt suggested, "At least if I die horribly, nobody else will die unless they get killed by something else."

Matt ran out of the building and ran into another building. There was no sign of any of the Zoids that were supposedly searching for the Artillery Team, and Matt found a phone surprisingly fast.

'Maybe the people piloting those Zoids got bored and left.' Matt thought. Suddenly, he turned towards a window, where he saw several Zoids standing outside, remaining motionless.

Immediately, Matt realised that the Zoids were no longer trying to find them. At first he thought the pilots could have left the cockpits, but then he felt something colliding with his neck.

A forest-

The Elephander collapsed as very large Komodo dragons continued climbing on it, mostly attempting to reach the cockpit. Suddenly, the cockpit opened and Greg decided to jump onto the Bear Fighter.

Greg almost missed the Bear Fighter, but he grabbed its tail. However, there were more Komodo dragons climbing around on the Bear Fighter. One of them bit Greg's shoulder and attempted to tear his arm off.

The Salamander began to fire missiles at the Bear Fighter, Liger Zero and Konig Wolf. They were shaken by the blasts, but the explosions proved crucial, as many Komodo dragons were knocked off the Zoids.

"This may be a stupid suggestion, but there's probably some kind of abandoned wooden building nearby." Zack suggested, "It probably resembles a shed, only it's slightly bigger."

"Why would there be a place like that?" Greg demanded. Then he realised that nobody would answer him, because he was nowhere near a radio system. Somehow he had been able to keep holding onto the Bear Fighter's tail.

"Well, whenever anyone gets attacked in a forest, they always seem to be able to hide in a wooden building. Usually because it's in a movie and they need a way to make the movie longer." Zack replied.

"For some reason, these things have stopped attacking us now." Fred realised, "So maybe we should try to find a wooden building. Or better yet, we could _leave this forest_."

Another part of the forest, several minutes later-

The remaining Phoenix Team Zoids and Greg reached a small, wooden building, exactly as Zack had predicted. Zack began to worry that people would think he had been reading a **script**.

"Well, we've found the building of endless plot devices." Zack informed everyone, "Now that we've found it, we can wait until those things return and try to kill us again."

"Someone's written 'REDRUM' on the side of this building." Fred announced, "Well, we all know that couldn't possibly be 'murder' spelt backwards, could it? Anyway, this building has to be safe."

"Either it's safe, or there's a safe in it." Greg said, "And if there's a safe in it, then someone's probably already taken everything out of that safe. What's strange is that the Fire Phoenix hasn't returned yet."

Greg fell to the ground. The remaining members of the Phoenix Team ran to him, but he wasn't responding to anything, not even when his team-mates began to kick him around.

"I think he's unconscious, or at least exceptionally stupid." Fred reported, "Either way, kicking him around probably didn't help him at all. Now our main problem is that we don't have a key for the door."

"Yes, but this is an abandoned wooden building that happens to be in extremely bad condition." Zack announced, as he opened the door. The Phoenix Team heard something hitting the ground.

Inside the building-

The Phoenix Team entered the building, and immediately Zack noticed a lock lying on the door. This lock was the thing that had broken off when he opened the door. Zack closed the door but it opened again.

"The people around here should start using locks that are actually part of the doors, instead of locks that are just bolted onto the doors. Then people would stop running into their homes." Fred stated.

"But this building, and probably other buildings in the area, are in such bad condition that anyone could run through one of the walls and it would fall apart." Zack replied, while closing the door again. The door flew open and slammed into Fred's face. Fred collapsed on top of Greg. Fred was unharmed and managed to stand, and it was impossible to tell if Greg had been harmed because once again he didn't react at all.

"We really need to find a way to attach this lock to the door again." Zack realised, "But at least those things that attacked us can't possibly know that we're hiding in a crappy wooden house."

"I found something that could help us find out if Greg is still alive!" Fred shouted, as he pulled a crash cart into everyone's sight. Fred attempted to shock Greg with the crash cart and at first he got no response. Suddenly, Greg began to vanish from sight entirely.

"That's stupid. It's almost like when someone 'censors' a movie or TV programme to the extent that the bodies of dead people can't even be seen lying around." Zack said, before realising, 2It's also what someone could see if they were beyond insane."


	5. Chapter 5

**The movies in this part are the same ones in the previous two sections. I was going to have a crossover with some other movies in this part, but I thought that would be a bad idea, although there will be other movie crossovers in the next section.**

Zoids – Dimension Crisis

"_At least the damage to the Battle Cougar isn't as extensive as the damage to the other Zoids." Lauren commented, "The repairs to the Battle Cougar should be complete within ninety minutes."_

"_The Battle Cougar is damaged enough that it takes that long to complete repairs?" Nick asked._

"_It actually looks as though there could have been considerably more damage, if that battle had continued." Lauren replied, "Fortunately, the Battle Cougar only had one wing blasted off and sustained some minor damage while falling to the ground."_

"_That's reassuring." Nick commented sarcastically, "Do we really have a chance against the Artillery Team if we fight them again?"_

"_Not if we fight against them as badly as we fought last time." Lauren pointed out, "But this time it will be harder. I don't think we can fight as effectively… although, I won't be fighting as effectively because I won't be fighting."_

"_At least the logic can't be argued with." Deirdre stated, "But attaching a Zoid's limb non-professionally… that could take too long to ensure the wing will actually enable the Zoid to fly."_

"_Well, that's one good thing about the Battle Cougar." Nick replied, "I'll try to run as much as possible. I guess I'll only be relying on flight if there's no other option, even though they have a lot of firepower."_

"_Well, being unable to fly just enables them to focus their firepower." Randy pointed out, "If the Battle Cougar can't fly, we'll have more problems than before. But there has to be some way to beat the next opposing team."_

"_Can't you try using your Zoid to help?" Lauren asked._

"_My Zoid?" Randy commented, "But, the combination with other Zoids failed, and I don't know what else it's capable of."_

"_Unfortunately, that seems to be true." Deirdre commented, "I don't know why you couldn't have a Zoid that's actually useful."_

Hover Cargo-

Cheryl woke to find herself still in the cockpit of the Snipe Liger. She opened the cockpit and climbed out, where she saw many of the other Crusade Team standing there like idiots.

'Almost forgot, they are idiots.' Cheryl thought, as she jumped off the Snipe Liger's nose. She fell on her face, but apparently she didn't cause any harm to herself, and she slowly began to stand.

"This information is probably useless to you now, but we found you and your Shield Liger at the bottom of a mountain… so that means you probably fell off and it was probably because of an attack." Nick explained repeatedly.

"I remember we were fighting the Artillery Team… well, we had just fought them, and… wait, that was a dream." Cheryl realised, "So I have absolutely no idea what happened. But I dreamt that we had a Battle Cougar."

"It's a good thing we don't." James said, "They were remade by Hasbro, as a pre-made variant of the original Battle Cougar, and are glued together, so if something interrupted that process it would be unable to move."

"What are you talking about?" Deirdre asked, as everyone moved away from James, despite the fact that nobody was there to see them with him, "Anyway, nobody's reported back yet."

"Although, there are now an army of weird Zoids standing outside the Hover Cargo." Jake reported, before turning to a window, and seeing nothing outside, "Actually, they seem to have left."

"So they almost reached the Hover Cargo, but then they decided to leave?" Cheryl asked, "But if they weren't going to attack the Hover Cargo, why were they here? Were their pilots that bored?"

"If they didn't intend to help us, they must be responsible for at least some of the things that have happened." Nick realised, "But apart from the fact that their Zoids were very weird we know nothing about them."

"They could be responsible for some of the things that happened, but I don't think we're going to know until everyone else returns, or some kind of rescue team appears." James replied.

"We're not going to know anything about them if we don't try to find them." Jake explained, "But I'll stay here, and Cheryl should stay here, because rescue teams will need to know there's someone here."

The Hover Cargo's transportation area-

The Gildragon began to be raised onto the launch platform. Its wings hit the sides of the loading device, and as it was pulled upwards it left to large holes in the sides of the loading device.

Inside the cockpit of the Gildragon, Nick was shaken repeatedly. Inexplicably, the Gildragon decided to try to eat the loading device, even though the loading device was much larger than it.

The loading device raised the Gildragon onto the launch platform. The platform immediately attempted to launch the Gildragon, but it bit the loading device and held onto it, breaking part of it off, while the Gildragon was sent flying backwards through the air.

The loading platform began to lower again, but it got stuck. A large amount of smoke poured out of the Hover Cargo's eyes and after several seconds, the platform began to lower. The Jet Falcon was loaded onto it.

The loading platform shot upwards exceptionally fast, throwing the Jet Falcon onto the launching platform, which immediately launched the Jet Falcon and it was sent spinning through the air.

The Jet Falcon collided with the Gildragon. The Gildragon fired on the Jet Falcon and it was knocked out of the air, falling towards the Hover Cargo's head. Inside the Hover Cargo, Jake began to run around due to 'panic'.

"I don't know what's going on, but the Hover Cargo's head transportation section is taking much longer than usual to open." James said, as he sat inside the cockpit of his Slash Liger.

James finally got bored, and made his Slash Liger kick the Hover Cargo's head. The head flew back, slamming into the Jet Falcon as it fell out of the air. The Jet Falcon was knocked into the Hover Cargo's shell, the impact sending it flying away.

"That has to be the worst attempt at launching Zoids I've ever seen. I really should try to join a team that doesn't screw up constantly." Jake said to himself, but then he ran into a wall.

Apparently unbothered that one team member and the Jet Falcon could have ended up anywhere, the Slash Liger and Gildragon charged forward in the direction of nothing. Seconds later, the Gun Blaster and Gojulas Giga arrived.

A strange town-

"James, I've found the weird Zoids." Nick reported through the Gildragon's communications systems, "I don't know what's going to happen now, but I have found them."

"Well, don't start firing on them or anything, they'll just attack us and we'll never find out what's going on." James replied. The Slash Liger ran towards the strange town, but something else flew overhead.

This 'something else' was a Jet Falcon. It was still spinning in circles, firing at everything below. The strange Zoids returned fire. An explosion engulfed the Jet Falcon's head, smoke pouring from the cockpit.

""Well, I guess that completely screws over any chance of Deirdre still being alive… then again, how much did we really care about her?" James asked, not noticing the Bio-Zoids approaching.

"But the cockpit wasn't completely destroyed… it's almost like this is some kind of plot device." Nick pointed out, as the Jet Falcon attached to the back of the Slash Liger and fused with it.

The Slash Liger charged forward, cutting through several Bio-Raptors with its many blades. Obviously James had forgotten about finding out what was happening and why he was even fighting.

"We weren't even supposed to fight… but since you've left them no choice…" Nick said, firing his Gildragon's cannons at everything except the Slash Liger. Many Bio-Zoids exploded.

"Are those things supposed to be exploding? It's getting very hard to see anything here!" James shouted, as his Slash Liger attempted to charge at a Bio Volcano, but instead it ran into an explosion.

"Okay, I don't think this is the best plan we've ever used." Nick admitted as his Gildragon flew low towards the ground, grabbing a Bio Kentro and lifting it off the ground.

"I don't believe we're using a _plan_ at all!" James shouted. The Gildragon dropped the Bio Kentro, and it landed on top of the Bio Volcano, hitting it with enough impact to shatter its limbs.

"Now we only need something to catch on fire and… wait, there's the remains of many people and some Zoids here. Maybe the people piloting these Bio-Zoids are cannibals." Nick suggested.

"This has to be the worst thing resembling 'Hell's Highway' I've ever lived through!" James shouted, "We're just finding out now that these people are cannibals and that their Bio-Zoids must also be cannibals?"

"Well at any rate, their Zoids can't stand up to this!" Nick shouted, firing every weapon on the Gildragon in a huge display of stupidity. A large amount of Bio-Zoids were hit.

"Nick, that's the stupidest thing you've ever done during a battle!" James shouted, as Bio-Zoids exploded around him, engulfing the Slash Liger in explosions significantly larger than it had ever been in before.

Suddenly, the explosions vanished. Nick and James found that they were now staring at the Hover Cargo, and that there was no sign of the Bio-Zoids, the cannibals who had been piloting them, or the remains of the victims.

A strange city, somewhere-

The remaining members of the Artillery Team watched in shock as Matt fell to the ground. A strange man who couldn't be seen very clearly from the Artillery Team's position walked out of sight.

"Matt is dead… and we could die if we try to run to where his blood is in hopes of cloning him!" Mark shouted, "Our only hope for survival, is to not clone him. Only then can we remain alive somehow."

"But that always was our only hope for survival." Claire replied, "Well, the only thing that kept me sane was knowing that there was only one of him, and that nobody with any sanity would try to clone him."

"Yes, that kept me sane too." Mike said, "But now that he's dead, we won't have to put up with even one of him! Now, we can finally join another team instead of being a team of four… er, three people."

"And now, I can finally take those guns off the back of his Dark Horn and attach them to my Red Horn, resulting in my Red Horn having guns that can actually harm something!" Mark shouted.

"Isn't that a bit too enthusiastic?" Mike asked, "I mean, he was annoying and everything, but I don't think we should dismember his Zoid and give the guns to a Red Horn."

"Okay then, I'll just pilot the Dark Horn, in 'memory' of Mike… er, Matt. Then I can put something explosive in the Red Horn and when we leave, we can make it explode and wipe out that army of Zoids." Mark tried to reason.

"I'll pilot the Red Horn." Claire suggested, "See, my Deadborder isn't really capable of travelling very fast, and even if it was supposed to be, it would probably trip over itself somehow."

"It's not that immobile, but you have a point, and the Red Horn is faster. And since Mark can't afford explosive weapons and nobody else trusts him with their money, blowing up the Red Horn won't kill anything." Mike said.

"Okay, and them we can rename ourselves something like the Horn Team or the … well, we could, if it weren't for the fact that that team name is already taken. By people who don't have Zoids with horns." Mark said.

"They don't call themselves the Horn Team; they call themselves the Horny Team. Anyway, here's one of those 'script' things." Mike said, as he approached a table that had a piece of paper sitting on it, "It says, 'although the Artillery Team don't know it yet, the man who killed Matt is someone who hates strangers to the city he lives in, even though everyone in the city is a stranger. Also the Zoids are being piloted by zombies controlled by that crazy person'."

"Okay, so the zombies are controlled by the Horny Team, the Pervert Team are planning to blow up the Green Horn, the Tyrant Team are all zombies, that the Zoids are piloted by starfish?" Mark asked.

"I think you're on the right track." Mike said, "Now, the only way we can get through this, is if we kill all the starfish. But to kill them, we have to blow up those Zoids, and that guy who killed Matt."

"I think something's' slightly wrong with this situation." Claire pointed out, "If the guy who killed Matt turned people into zombies, then shouldn't Matt be a zombie? Or am I being stupid by being logical?"

"If it is possible for him to become a zombie, we must kill the remains of Matt before another Matt appears. Or before the army of Zoids throws doormats at us." Mike realised.

"Well, if they throw doormats at us, we have some hope of survival, but otherwise, if they decide to just shoot at us, we have no hope of survival." Claire realised, "We'll have to use this plan soon."

"I have an idea of how to reach the Deadborder from here." Mark said, "I got this remote control thing with a model Death Stinger I got on eBay. Maybe that can help us."

"That's a good idea, but I don't think we're going to be able to reach it from here. The cord is only two inches long." Mike realised, "Only if we had an extension cord would we have any hope of surviving."

"That's funny, there's an extension cord right here." Claire realised, pointing to the 'table', which, although nobody had noticed it before, was actually a giant extension cord.

"Well, that works." Mark realised. Mark attached the remote control device's cord to the extension cord. Then he swung the cord around and it hit the Green Horn's head and caused it to collapse.

"Okay, that was an accident." Mark assured everyone as he swung the cord again; hoping it would attach to the Deadborder, but it knocked the Dark Horn into a large crater.

"Damn it!" Mark shouted as he swung the cord again. This time it attached to the Deadborder's back. Suddenly something began firing on the Green Horn, and the large group of Zoids began to arrive.

"Now, if I understand correctly, this is the 'forward' button." Mark informed everyone, pressing a button. The Deadborder ran sideways into a building, causing several bricks to fall off.

The Deadborder began to stumble forwards. The opposing Zoids began to surround it and fired on it from all directions. The Deadborder's ammunition detonated and a number of opposing Zoids were set on fire by the explosion.

The flaming Zoids began to explode, but exactly why was completely inexplicable, because no explosive weapons or anything even close to being explosive was near the parts of the Zoids that were on fire.

Suddenly, the man who had killed Matt began to run from the building. As he ran he held up a crystal and it redirected light, which struck part of the building and caused it to explode.

"At least that crystal didn't really cause any harm to this building, so we can expect to be safe for some time now." Mark said, while Claire ran towards the Red Horn, hoping to reach it without being killed.

"Are you insane? A pile of about seven bricks is all that's left of the front of this building!" Mike shouted. The Red Horn charged at the man who had a crystal, but he turned and fired at the charging Zoid.

The shot struck the Red Horn and tore through its cockpit, but the Red Horn was too large and heavy to be stopped completely. Its momentum caused it to crash into the man with the crystal.

Mike and Mark suddenly found themselves inside the remaining Artillery Team Zoids. They quickly realised that somehow they had returned to the Hover Cargo and Whale King.

The snow-covered area-

Louise had head the attack through the radio systems, she realised that whatever had attacked the Metalrhimos would be searching for anyone else, unless there was no attack, and the Metalrhimos had reached the top of a mountain and fallen off.

It had begun snowing again and visibility was limited, so Louise could was relying on the radar systems to locate the threat. So far, nothing was showing up on radar, and nothing had appeared on radar since Louise left the building.

After the Metalrhimos had been attacked, nobody had used the communications systems at all. Louise was beginning to think searching for a phone outside was stupid.

The Fire Fox began to turn, but Louise noticed something had appeared on the radar. Seconds later, a Zeek Dober slammed into the side of the Fire Fox, sending it skidding across the ground on its side.

The Fire Fox began to stand, but the Zeek Dober fired repeatedly. Explosions engulfed the Fire Fox and it was shaken repeatedly. Louise tried to use the radio system, but she quickly found that it wasn't working.

Inside a building in the snow-covered area-

"Ron has been attacked by something, unless he just told us he was to that he could find out if his Metalrhimos could survive charging off a cliff." John reported.

"Although he's insane, I think he's mentally stable enough to not jump off a cliff." Colin said.

"But maybe be would if he wanted to know how strong his Metalrhimos's armour is." Claire suggested, "We don't know what happened to Louise, but we can't contact her, and I don't think she would turn off the radio."

"This might just be a coincidence, but even if something happened to her, the three most powerful Zoids on our team would be the only ones left. We should be able to defeat whatever is attacking people." John explained.

"We should be, but since we're all insane, we probably won't." Darren realised, "If we're going to search for whoever attacked them, we have problems, because we don't know what we're expecting to be attacked by."

"So, should we bother leaving at all?" Claire asked, "If something is attacking people, this building will probably get attacked soon. I don't think there's many other people around."

"It's better to be prepared to be attacked." Darren said, "If this building is attacked, then we might not be able to reach our Zoids before we get killed, which would be the worst attempt at fighting something in history."

"It wouldn't be worse than the Legendary Shield Liger Massacre of the Year Lost to Time." John replied, "That was the legendary battle in which an Iguan destroyed fifty thousand Shield Ligers."

"Yes, but the only survivor of that 'battle' was in a mental institution, may have imagined the whole thing because of being mental, and probably shouldn't be trusted anyway." Claire stated.

"We should probably be at least thinking about leaving now." John pointed out, "Because if we don't, by the time we finish this conversation, we could be getting killed by the ghost of that Iguan!"

Snow-covered area, many minutes later-

The Zeek Dober continued to fire on the Fire Fox, even though it was obviously defeated. Any sane person would have realised that continuing to fire on it couldn't achieve anything.

The Gunguyarados fired two laser beams from its back, blasting some of the armour off one of the Zeek Dober's rear legs. The Zeek Dober began to run in circles, and continued firing on the Fire Fox.

"I don't think it's actually possible to cause any further damage to the Fire Fox." John stated, as the Decalto Dragon fired two missiles, hitting the Zeek Dober and sending it flying backwards.

The Zeek Dober slowly stood and turned towards the three Zoids approaching it. Then it began to run around the Fire Fox, firing on it repeatedly, despite the fact that any hopes of repairing it were long gone.

"I don't think the pilot of the Zeek Dober is thinking about things very clearly." John reported, as the Zeek Dober continued to fire on the scrapped Fire Fox, causing more explosions to engulf the wreck.

The Gunguyarados flew towards the Zeek Dober, grabbing it with its front claws and flying into the air, lifting the Zeek Dober off the ground. The Zeek Dober tried to run but its feet weren't touching anything.

The Gunguyarados hurled the Zeek Dober at the ground. Unfortunately, this caused it to crash into the remains of the Fire Fox, wrecking it even further. The Zeek Dober slowly began to stand.

"I can't believe the pilot is trying not to fire on us." Darren said, as the Zeek Dober continued to run around the remains of the Fire Fox, blasting it repeatedly with the cannons on its back.

"Unless we can actually disable him, he's going to continue trying to find out how many pieces it's possible to break a Fire Fox into before the pieces can't be made any smaller." John replied.

The Decalto Dragon fired its cannons at the Zeek Dober. Parts of the Zeek Dober's armour were blown away, but it continued to run around, pointlessly continuing to fire on the Fire Fox.

"Well, at least as long as he's firing on that Fire fox, there's no chance of him attacking us." Claire realised. The Gunguyarados landed and took aim with its large back-mounted cannon.

The Blade Liger's blades extended, and it prepared to charge when the Gunguyarados fired. The Gunguyarados fired, hitting most of the remains of the Fire Fox, breaking them into small shards of metal that tore through the Zeek Dober.

The Blade Liger charged, cutting the guns off the Zeek Dober's back with its blades. The cannons fell to the ground and the Zeek Dober stood motionless, as the pilot struggled to think of a new method of attack.

The Decalto Dragon fired repeatedly. The Zeek Dober was struck repeatedly. After being hit several times, it exploded into pieces. For several seconds the Zeek Dober's pilot didn't try to escape.

Suddenly, the remaining members of the Decalto Team found themselves in the desert again. The Hover Cargo and Whale King were now a very short distance in front of them, and they could see two members of the Artillery Team walking towards them.

The river/ocean-

"At least we escaped from that thing." Ian said, "Well, we may not actually have escaped from it, but that idiot Paul is dead so because of that, we won't keep losing all the time."

"Yes, gut now if we fight a team with six people, we'll be outnumbered by even more than we were before." Jade pointed out, "Anyway, shouldn't we be trying to escape from here now?"

"We could try to escape, but that wouldn't solve anything." Ian replied, "Anyway, even if we tried to escape, that thing would follow us and we would be back where we started."

"Well, that is true, but since nothing affected it, there's no point in fighting it either. At least if we try to run there's a higher chance of some of us surviving the attack." Jade reasoned.

"Yes, but why would we want to survive when we can be chased around by a fish for eternity?" Ian asked, "Anyway, the only way to kill it, is… well, I don't really know. So basically we're screwed."

"Well it is a fish, so if it's taken out of water it will probably die. Then again, we would kill a fish, which is much worse than letting ourselves be killed. There has to be another solution." Jade said.

"Well, there probably is, especially since we're not fighting it. But someone called Simon, who, incidentally, is completely mental, probably would try to throw ducks at it." Dean said.

"Yes, that doesn't really help anything." Ian pointed out, "Now, as long as Simon isn't here, nobody will attempt to throw ducks at that fish, which won't change a single thing about the situation."

"Yes, but if some idiot named Simon… well, named any name really, was here, we could throw him at the fish and the we could escape, while he could get killed. Then the fish would get food poisoning and die." Jane said.

"I don't know if any of you have realised, but we are getting further away from it." Jade reported, "Now if we can continue outrunning it, nothing else will happen, until something else happens."

"That was the most obvious thing anyone could use in order to point out the obvious." Ian said, "But I think the radiation here is special kind of radiation called redundiation. It makes sentences redundant."

"Then the redundancy will make everything redundant." Dean realised, "We have to turn around now because we have to turn around now. Then we have to go back the way we came, which is the way we came."

"But by going back the way we came, our only option will be to go back the way we came!" Jade shouted, "And because we already know the fish can kill us, it can kill us, and we know that!"

"Yes, but because we know that, it is not unknown to us." Jane reasoned, "Because of this, we can use it to our advantage, which will be advantageous for us. Then we can survive, which means we will not die."

The four Sea Panthers sped away from the area containing radiation… er, redundiation. They turned back the way they came, which was unfortunate, as it meant they were heading into further realms of stupidity.

"Now that we're running from that area of safety, isn't there a huge chance of getting killed by that weird fish thing?" Jane asked, surprised, "I think that's more threatening than redundant sentences."

"Yes, but without the redundant sentences, we can concentrate on… okay, actually everything will be more-or-less as it always was." Ian explained, "But now there's a fish."

"Yes, there's been a fish for several hours now… well, a strange, mutated fish anyway." Jade tried to explain, "Now, apparently, our only chance is to kill it, otherwise we could die."

"Yes, but we must be very cautious when attempting to kill this thing, otherwise… well, I wouldn't know, since I've never been in a situation like this." Dean said, "But anyway it will probably be stupid."

"It reacted when we fired on it before, so all we have to do now is fire on it several times in succession, and maybe something will happen. But if it doesn't, then this situation will get weirder." Ian said.

The four Sea Panthers began to fire on the mutated sea creature. It was struck repeatedly, but none of the shots caused it severe harm and it began to approach the Sea Panthers.

"I think firing on it was a stupid idea." Dean suddenly said, "Maybe if we hadn't fired on it, we would have some chance of staying alive for longer. Maybe we should try to outrun it."

"That's really weird; we were trying to outrun it before." Jade said, "Then someone came up with the idea of trying to shoot it. Well, if we're supposed to be outrunning it again…"

Suddenly, the mutated sea creature used two of its tentacles to hit two Sea Panthers as hard as possible. Ian and Jade were shaken by the impact and their Sea Panthers were hurled backwards.

Jane fired three torpedoes at the fish. They struck their target and exploded. The fish was now burnt badly but it was still alive and shot forwards. The Sea Panther moved to one side in hopes of avoiding it.

The mutated sea creature slammed one of its tentacles into the Sea Panther's cockpit and smashed it. Jane was crushed by the tentacles, but the Sea Panther fired another shot and blasted one of the creature's eyes away.

The creature's tentacle moved away and Jane's body fell out of the Sea Panther's cockpit, while the Sea Panther itself was just floating around. Two other Sea Panthers began to approach it.

They grabbed the Sea Panther's pincers and began to drag it away from the battlefield, while Dean's Sea Panther continued to fire on the sea monster with no effect.

The Sea Panther began to fire several torpedoes at the sea monster, but the creature wasn't harmed much and used its jaws to grab the Sea Panther. The mutated fish began to crush the Sea Panther.

Dean pressed a button and ejected from the Sea Panther. The Sea Panther suddenly exploded, blasting the mutated fish apart, while Dean was hurled towards the remaining Sea Panthers.

One of the Sea Panthers used its pincer to prevent Dean from being hurled further. The Sea Panthers surfaced. The Sea Panther Team were shocked to find that they were now approaching an island.

Inside a wooden building-

"Well, for all we know, Mary could still be alive." Max suggested, "Yes, maybe there's no pirates, and maybe the Warriors of Command have admitted that they're all crazy for once."

"Maybe the Warriors of Command will never admit that they're crazy." Susan realised, "But I agree with Max, despite his idiocy. There's no reason why a pirate would be here."

"Especially an undead pirate." Frank said, "If there were some pirates hanging around here, that would be one thing, but would we really believe something about an undead pirate?"

"Well it would be very good if you did believe it, since it's exactly one hundred per cent of what's actually true." Dennis stated, "Now, our only chance is to run around in circles."

"See, that just completely prevents anyone from taking you seriously." Max pointed out, "Now, if we can run around in circles, then Mary will probably come through the door and admit that this is a prank."

The Tyrant Team, except for Dennis, began to run around in circles, to the amazement to Dennis. It took them several minutes before they realised that running in circles wouldn't help them.

"You know, we really need a plan with at half a chance of working." Frank said, "But we really should save that for when something remotely important happens, or even better, when we need a plan."

"I had a plan to become a millionaire once, but it backfired because they found out that my money was Monopoly money." Max announced, "Then I was kicked out of Millionaire Land."

"I don't believe there's such a place as Millionaire Land." Susan replied, "These weird 'ideas' of yours are going to make me think Dennis's pranks are believable at this rate."

"Well you should believe they're believable, because… well, the most important thing is that this isn't a prank!" Dennis shouted, "Now we have to find a way to get out of this place."

"At least he's stopped attempting to get people to run in circles." Frank stated, before realising something, "Wait, Max made us run in circles because he said it would make Mary walk through the door and admit everything."

"I'm getting the idea that they're working together." Susan said, "Maybe we should 'follow' their plan by returning to our Zoids and getting as far from them as possible. At least, if this is true-"

"Why would it be true?" Frank asked, "I know this has been a very tiring day, but that doesn't mean you should start believing Dennis's pranks. Remember when he and Max thought a Storm Tyrant would make us invincible?"

"Getting a Storm Tyrant has made us almost invincible!" Max shouted, but then he realised that he had just said something that made things look even more like he and Dennis were working together.

"If we get out of this situation alive, I'm going to find some team who can actually appreciate someone with a Storm Tyrant. Maybe the Warriors of Command need a Storm Tyrant." Dennis suggested.

"I don't see why you would leave us, but even if you did leave us it would achieve nothing!" Max shouted, "I would become the leader of this team and we would go from partial insanity to complete insanity!"

"That's great, but there's a pirate outside the window." Dennis informed everyone, as he saw the pirate standing outside the window. The pirate punched the window and shattered it.

"Okay, maybe there is a zombie pirate here." Susan replied, as the pirate struggled to pull himself through the window, "Wait, if we run out through the door now, he'll never be able to kill us."

"That's true, but he's a zombie so for all we know his legs will break off and chase us." Max realised, "But since our Zoids are outside, we don't really have much choice."

The Tyrant Team attempted to get out through the door, resulting in most of them shoving other members of the Tyrant Team away from the door, and then being forced away from the door before they could reach it.

Finally, Dennis reached the door and ran outside. Susan followed and Max attempted to run through the door, but suddenly he heard a scream as the pirate slashed Frank across the back with a cutlass.

Frank fell to the ground, but Max decided to turn back. Max charged at the pirate and tried to force him backwards. Frank began to recover and decided to run, but he tripped on something and collapsed.

Frank began to pull himself out the door while the pirate knocked Max to the ground and began striking with his sword. Frank realised that he couldn't help much even if he turned back, so forced himself to stand and began running.

Max attempted to stand, but the pirate grabbed his neck and threw him to the ground. The pirate kicked him and sent him rolling into a wall. Max attempted to stand but the pirate was standing in front of him, preparing to strike again.

Max was able to stand, but then the pirate's cutlass cut into him vertically. Max fell against a wall and then collapsed, dead. The pirate began to cut through one of the walls of the wooden building.

Outside-

Part of one of the building's walls collapsed, and the pirate walked out through the hole. However, when he got outside, the King Baron began to fire on him. The King Baron had exceptionally bad aim, mainly because nobody was piloting it. The wooden building was blasted apart but the pirate was unharmed.

Then the King Baron charged, knocking over a few trees, before jumping into the ocean. The King Baron began to float away from the area, to the surprise of the pirate and the Tyrant Team.

The Battle Cougar flew overhead and began firing on the pirate. However, because Frank was injured, he his aim was impaired and he failed to hit the pirate, but he blasted many trees apart.

"Once again, I have to defeat our enemy alone." Susan stated. The Cannon Fort fired its various guns, but Susan also managed to miss the pirate, blasting everything around him apart.

"First they don't believe there's a pirate, then they can't hit a pirate. I'm sensing a pattern here." Dennis said, as he fired his Storm Tyrant's charged particle cannon. The zombie pirate was hit with the beam and exploded.

"Well, at least he's dead. Now we just have to find a way to reach civilisation." Frank said. The Tyrant Team and their Zoids walked out of what was left of the forest, approaching the ocean once again.

"Are they supposed to be coming this way?" Frank suddenly asked, seeing three Sea Panthers speeding towards the island. One of the pilots was standing on top of a Sea Panther.

Inside a building in a forest-

"Now, we have to figure out why Greg vanished. Maybe he fell into another world." Zack suggested, "Although, even if we could speak to him, he probably wouldn't know why he fell into another world."

"Maybe he became invisible, and by becoming invisible, he healed himself, except that we're not supposed to know that, but we already know that, so now we must act as if we don't." Fred suggested.

"But you already said we know he's invisible, so if he's invisible and isn't nearly dead anymore, then he'll know that we know he isn't invisible." Louise reasoned, "So acting as if we don't know is stupid."

"Maybe it is." Neil said, "Because he couldn't possibly have become invisible. But maybe, someone moved him out of this building, and then erased our memories of it, so that we wouldn't follow him."

"Okay, for some reason, Greg has vanished. We don't really need his help, but it would help if we could remember that instead of immediately thinking we need his help next time." Zack said.

"Well since he's probably dead regardless of what happened, I don't think it matters." Louise replied, "Even if we needed his help, he wouldn't be able to help us, so we have to escape from this forest."

"We're surrounded by these large reptile things." Neil pointed out, "It's unlikely that they would follow us and attempt to kill us, because reptiles tend not to hold grudges against people."

"Yes, but since nothing else that's been happening has made sense, I think it's obvious that they will try to attack us." Zack said, "Now we only need to find a way to escape."

Suddenly, many Komodo dragons began to break through the walls. One of then tried to enter through a door that was intended for cats to walk through and its head got stuck.

One of them tried to jump through a window but the window wasn't real and was only a drawing. The Komodo dragon fell to the ground but others continued to break through the walls.

"If they break through the walls, then this building will collapse on us and we'll probably die." Neil said, "If we wanted to escape, it would be a good idea to try to leave now."

"Yes, but why should we escape?" Fred asked, "If we stay here, we can continue to come up with more stupid theories on why Greg really isn't dead and in reality, we just think he is."

"Well, despite all these 'theories', he probably is dead." Zack pointed out. The building began to shake. The Phoenix Team ran outside without any Komodo dragons attempting to kill them.

Outside-

The Phoenix Team ran towards their Zoids, which for some reason were now standing on their heads. Thanks to the fact that many Zoids' cockpits are located in their heads, this made things difficult for the Phoenix Team.

"I don't know how this happened, but if we can't find a solution we're probably going to be killed at some point." Zack said, "And I don't know why, but the Fire Phoenix is also here."

"The Fire Phoenix was nowhere in sight last time." Louise agreed, "Wait, why didn't we bring the Fire Phoenix out of the Whale King, and how can it be here now if it's still in the Whale King?"

"We didn't bring the Fire Phoenix out of the Whale King because I would still have to travel with anyone else and the Liger Zero Phoenix would have to be flying very slowly for that to happen." Zack said.

"Then it must be here because it didn't want to be rejected!" Fred shouted, "And because it didn't want to be rejected, it made the other Zoids stand on their heads, and then stood on its own head!"

"But that makes no sense." Zack said, "Well, actually, I guess it does make sense. But in order to escape, we're going to have to find a way to make these Zoids stand on their feet."

Fred turned back towards the wooden building, and saw that it was now shaking violently. Fred thought that this probably meant the Komodo dragons hadn't noticed there was nobody in it yet.

"Okay, its unfortunate but we'll have to throw rocks at those Zoids." Neil said, "It may cause them to become irritated, but at least we can enter the cockpits and escape from this place!"

"Well, it's our only chance to survive, so I guess that makes it a good idea." Fred replied, "But how are we going to escape from this place when we've been travelling through it for so long without leaving it?"

"Well, we have been trying to leave this place for some time. But maybe the solution is to just accept that even if we can't leave this place, we'll be… in a forest. Which isn't where we would be if we left it." Zack said.

Zack finally got bored of the constant rambling and threw a rock at the Liger Zero. The Liger Zero wasn't really bothered, but it decided to roll onto its feet anyway, because it was bored of standing on its head.

The wooden building finally collapsed. The Komodo dragons seemed to be trapped under the remains of the wooden building, but after several seconds they began to pull themselves out.

Zack opened the cockpit of the Liger Zero and climbed into it. Then he tried to close it but it opened again. Zack closed the cockpit again and this time it didn't open, so the Liger Zero began to run into other Zoids.

The impact of being hit by the Liger Zero caused the Zoids to roll onto their feet… and then fall onto their sides and skid across the ground, but they also decided to stand, so that they wouldn't be hit again.

The remaining members of the Phoenix Team boarded their Zoids, but when the cockpits closed, the Phoenix Team realised that they were now very close to the edge of the forest. They left the forest and saw several other Zoids standing nearby.

An oil rig-

"This keeps getting stupider." Dave said, "Every time something starts to happen, we have another argument about whether we imagined any creatures. We have to actually leave this place at some point."

"Good idea, we should leave this place." Robert agreed, "But since our Command Wolves can't fit through the corridors, our only choice would be to abandon them and then we would be in the middle of the ocean."

"We're probably close to some kind of island or something." Karl said, "But don't forget, we got here by falling through the ground, so many Command Wolves are so heavy that they break through the ground."

"That's a possibility." Carl said, "But even if Command Wolves are that heavy, I'm surprised the floor can support them. If they were that heavy, shouldn't they just fall through the floor?"

"Well they could, but that would solve our problems, so obviously it's not going to happen." Robert said, "Now we have to find a way to get out of here without leaving our Zoids."

"Well, at least you're not a complete idiot." Dave said, "We don't even know where we are and we could freeze to death in the ocean if we're somewhere where it's really cold."

"In addition to which, it's probably going to turn out that someone can't swim, and that they drown when we try to leave." Karl said, "Everything else is going wrong today, so obviously…"

"Obviously, we have to find a way to escape from here before we get killed." Carl said, "I don't really care if we imagined those creatures now, we just have to find a way to escape."

"So how are we going to escape?" Robert asked, "We've already been over that we could escape without our Zoids many times, but since it will probably result in our deaths anyway…"

"Places like this have to be built." Dave realised, "So therefore, if we had a screwdriver, we could take a lot of screws out of the walls, and we could escape through a wall."

"I don't know a lot about oil rigs, but I doubt they're that badly built." Robert said, "The pieces of the building are probably welded together. There's not much chance of us escaping."

"It would weaken the walls… but I guess we still wouldn't be able to break through them." Karl said, "At least, not without at least firing on them, and that could cause this place to explode."

"The walls have screws visible, but that's probably so that people can fix the electrical systems if something happens to them." Karl suggested, "So we're still stuck here."

"Yes, we're stuck here." Carl agreed, "Wait… aren't there Zoids that travel through water? And won't this place probably have a launch area for those Zoids? We could use it to escape!"

"We could use it to escape." Dave said, "The only problem is that those Zoids aren't intended to be brought into one of these rooms. The Command Wolves won't be able to reach the launch area."

"If the Command Wolves can't reach the launch area, then that's the end of another idea." Carl said, "Now we just need to find a way to escape from this endless cycle of dying ideas."

"It's not really that bad that the ideas are being wiped out, at least we're eliminating what we know doesn't work." Karl tried to reason, "Now we only have to find a way to leave."

"I don't think we're going to have any problem with that." Robert said, "If we continue to eliminate the things that don't work, soon we should have no problem escaping."

"Maybe you think we shouldn't have problems escaping from this situation, but things are going to keep getting worse if we stand here thinking about it." Dave pointed out.

Suddenly a sea monster ran into the room and slammed into the wall. The sea monster was about seven feet tall and had large claws and teeth. Everyone began running in random directions.

"You know, now that that monster is in plain sight, shouldn't we be shooting at it?" Karl asked. Then he tried to run towards a Command Wolf but the sea monster ran into him and the impact sent him flying back.

"I could shoot at it, but I haven't got a gun." Carl replied. The sea monster ran into a pole by accident and began stumbling around. The monster punched Carl and knocked him to one side.

"Why isn't this sea monster attempting to kill us?" Robert asked, but then he had to run like there was no tomorrow, or day after tomorrow, or day after the day after tomorrow to attempt to outrun the sea monster.

"I believe our collective insanity is causing that sea monster to become insane!" Dave shouted, but then he fell on the ground and began rolling along it to avoid being disembowelled by the monster.

"But there's more than one of them, and if we made it insane, that means all of them will be insane, and they could be here at any moment!" Karl shouted, as he attempted to stand while still trying to watch the monster.

"I don't think that monster has the intention of sparing our lives!" Carl shouted while running towards his Command Wolf. Carl could see the monster chasing Robert and decided this was a good chance to board his Zoid.

Robert was desperately looking for anything that could help him escape, but the monster grabbed him and charged at a wall, ramming his head into it repeatedly. Everyone else watched in shock.

"It's trying to break down the wall by using Robert's head!" Dave shouted, "Well, Robert is probably dead or about to die soon, but we have to find out why the monster is trying to escape!"

"Maybe there's another, larger monster trying to eat it. At any rate, it's leaving us with no choice!" Karl shouted, firing at the sea monster and Robert's body with his Command Wolf's guns.

The blasts killed the sea monster and blew a hole in the side of the oil rig. Suddenly the oil rig began to suck water into itself. The Warriors of Command fired on the wall, making the hole bigger.

The remaining members of the Warriors of Command escaped the oil rig by walking through the hole. By now the oil rig was sinking. The Warriors of Command could see land, but there were many other Zoids standing on it.


	6. Chapter 6

**This section and the next section are a crossover with "Dragon Fighter", "Grim Weekend" A K A "Sick (Serial Insane Clown Killer", and "Curse of the Komodo"**

Zoids – Dimension Crisis

"There's these weird Zoids. They have strange armour and strange guns. They're probably piloted by strange people." Lauren reported, "Anyway, we were attacked by three of them."

"The Killer Spiner was badly damaged and Randy is either severely injured or dead." Ted explained, "While this was happening, a Gun Blaster was knocked unconscious and a Geno Saurer was shrunk."

"That explains why we have a Gun Blaster now… and it kind of explains why we have a very small Geno Saurer." Jake said, "But I'm sure we've seen people with strange Zoids before."

The Slash Liger Falcon and Gildragon began to approach the Hover Cargo. Jake and Cheryl were shocked, which wasn't surprising since Nick and James had left a short amount of time ago.

"We found a whole army of those strange Zoids." James reported, "We tried to fight them, and we were winning, and suddenly everything exploded and then we were back here."

"We found Deirdre, but unfortunately she got killed by the people with weird Zoids before anything else could happen." Nick said, "Somehow the Jet Falcon survived and fused with the Slash Liger."

"Well, at least we don't have to worry about getting attacked by any more crazed Zoid pilots." Jake replied, "Now that we know everything that's happened, we only need to find a way to return to the town."

"Aren't those Zoids from the Artillery Team?" Cheryl asked, pointing to a Dark Horn and a Green Horn that were slowly approaching. Both Zoids were damaged enough for it to be easily visible, but they weren't badly damaged.

"We found a city, but there was nobody there except zombies with an army of Zoids." Mike reported.

"We're all that's left of the Artillery Team. Everyone else died trying to find a way to save us." Mark added.

"Then some of the people from that city could have been the ones that attacked us at first." Lauren suggested, "They didn't have the strange Zoids we fought, so it must have been the Zoids with zombie pilots."

"I don't think it could have been." Mark said, "Although those were more regular Zoids, everything that happened at that city suggests that the Zoids with zombie pilots only attacked people in their city."

"Then we still don't know who those four people were who attacked us and caused this whole situation, and nobody else has returned…" Mike began, but he then noticed the Decalto Team approaching.

"We found something. It was a wooden building, which would have had nothing special about it, except for the fact that it was surrounded by snow, even though it was in the middle of the desert." John reported.

"We didn't even find out if Ron and Louise are still alive, but they were attacked by a Zeek Dober." Colin stated.

"We couldn't find out what happened to them before we got here." Claire replied, "We suddenly appeared here."

"We defeated the Zeek Dober before we ended up here, but we still don't know why the pilot attacked us." Darren tried to explain.

"Okay, so we all fought Zoids piloted by crazy people, or by zombies in some cases, and we never found out why any of this happened, and now everyone has ended up back here." Jake summarised.

"But why have we ended up back here?" Mike asked, "And if only we ended up back here, does that mean everyone from the other four teams died trying to find civilisation?"

"They could have died." Jake agreed, "So far, all we know is that everyone who survived various incidents is here, and people who died or those that were possibly dead aren't."

"So there's some kind of supernatural force eliminating people?" Mark asked, "But why are they attacking us with Zoids? Shouldn't there be something supernatural that has more power than any Zoid?"

"Even if there aren't, there should at least be something that's harder to kill than any Zoid." John pointed out, "The only supernatural creatures we've seen are zombies, who aren't exactly known for being hard to kill."

"But if we killed everything sent against us and we're here, and the others are dead, then they must have been killed by something else. Maybe the more lethal supernatural creatures fought them." Mark suggested.

"But if they were killed by those creatures, where are those creatures now?" Jake asked, "I don't think they would disappear if the dead zombies and crazed Zoids pilots vanished."

"It's true that that wouldn't make sense." Darren agreed, "That means that either they're in New York, or they're waiting to attack us at some point. We could be attacked by anything, even mutated turtles that live in a sewer."

A beach-

A Storm Tyrant, Cannon Fort and Battle Cougar stood on the beach. Their pilots stared out at the ocean, mostly still surprised by the recent events, and that they had even found a beach.

"Well, we've finally escape that insane zombie pirate." Dennis said, "And all that time, you didn't believe me that there really was a zombie pirate… anyway, we still have to find civilisation."

"Two members of our team died." Frank reminded the remaining members of his team, "I don't know why we should start trying to find civilisation immediately, but maybe-"

"Maybe it's because you got slashed with a cutlass and you're probably going to die at some time soon if we don't get out of this place." Susan said, "We have to at least find a hospital."

"That's true." Dennis agreed, "But firstly, we have to figure out where we are. I've been trying to locate any city, but now I can't find anything. I'm getting the idea something else will happen."

"I really hope there's no more zombies or any other weird creatures trying to kill us." Frank said, "Trying to escape from one zombie pilot was enough… and I haven't been able to contact any other teams."

"I don't know when you tried to contact one of the other teams last, but the Storm Tyrant's sensors are detecting numerous other Zoids approaching us." Dennis suddenly announced.

"Didn't anyone think of trying to contact them?" Frank asked, before activating his Zoid's radio systems, "Can anyone actually here me, or is Dennis just imagining people?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if Dennis is imagining people." Karl replied through the radio, "But we're trying to reach land. I'm not sure if you knew this, but you're on a small island."

"We're on a small island?" Dennis asked, "That's impossible, we travelled through a desert to get here!" The Storm Tyrant began to turn back towards the desert the Tyrant Team had used to reach their current location.

"Well then I don't know what's happening, because you're definitely in on island now." Karl replied, "I don't know what's happening though, we're not supposed to be here either."

"Dennis, there is no sign of any desert." Frank said as his Battle Cougar began to rise into the air, "And to be completely honest, I can now see water surrounding us on all sides."

"That explains what's happening right now." Dave said, "I don't know how we got there, but we were in an oil rig. Something very strange is happening and a lot of people are appearing where they shouldn't be."

"We thought we were in the ocean." Dean reported, "And I guess we were, but we're nowhere near where we should be. I don't know what's happening here, but we have to find out before something else happens."

"We were attacked by a strange, mutated sea creature thing." Jade tried to explain, "It killed a few people and badly damaged a Sea Panther. We killed it and tried to reach land, but we ended up here."

"We were also attacked by sea monsters." Carl said, "They were inside the oil rig. I don't know what's happening but they also killed a few people, although Robert only died because something kept ramming his head into a wall."

"When we reach land, we should have no problem finding out what's actually happening!" Jade shouted, "Even if something does attack us we should have no problem driving it away."

"Well, maybe you should reach the land then." Frank said, "You're only about twelve feet away from land now, and I don't know what's happening, but you're not getting any closer."

"We were attacked by a pirate… a zombie pirate, anyway." Dennis explained, "Although, maybe your Command Wolves are just useless at swimming, but you're travelling very slowly."

"Command Wolves aren't useless, they're just…" Carl began, but suddenly the Command Wolves began to walk much faster, and they and the sea panthers climbed onto the beach.

"I don't know what the point of that was, but next time we're attacked by weird creatures and barely survive, don't try to walk really slowly… unless you want to die, anyway." Susan said.

"We weren't walking slowly!" Dave shouted, "I don't know what you think was happening, but we were walking normally, the island kept getting further away so we couldn't reach it."

"It's not just that." Zack announced, "There's other problems. For one thing, we just came out of the forest, but it took us a really long time to get out, even though we were right at the edge."

The crash site of the carriers-

Everyone near the carriers was still trying to figure out what was happening. James stumbled backwards, momentarily blinded by light reflecting off something. James began to walk in what seemed to be a random direction.

"James, what's going on?" Jake asked. The remaining members of the Crusade, Decalto and Artillery Teams began to follow James. Everyone suddenly staggered back as if they had been hit by considerable force.

Jake turned back towards the carriers, and saw that the Whale King was nowhere in sight, while the Hover Cargo was still visible, but it had been completely repaired by some unseen force.

The Zoids that had been inside the Hover Cargo were now outside of it. The Geno Saurer had returned to its regular size, but the Gun Blaster had completely vanished, or at least, hadn't been transported to this place.

"The Gun Blaster vanished, because it was just walking around when we found it, but by that logic the Killer Spiner should be standing here instead of the Geno Saurer." Jake said, confused.

Jake turned back towards James, but immediately he noticed that he wasn't in the desert. Now everyone was standing in something that looked as though it could be an abandoned military base.

"Now we're here?" Colin asked, "Things keep getting weirder. I know this isn't the weirdest thing that's happened so far, but we really need to find a way to stop these things from happening."

"We didn't get here until everyone followed James." Lauren realised, "And before that, everyone was travelling around, and somehow we all returned to the Hover Cargo."

"So whenever we try to travel anywhere, we end up in the same place, but exactly where we end up is very random." Nick said, "Now we have to find out where the Whale King is."

"If the Hover Cargo is repaired, we should be able to find out what's happening using the Hover Cargo's equipment." Jake suggested.

Hover Cargo-

"Well, at least the equipment works. Too bad that it takes about fifty years to turn on." Jake said.

"So, after that will we have any idea where we are?" James asked, "Because if we don't, then we're probably going to be stuck here for a lot longer than we would be normally."

"Well, I think I've found out where we are." Jake reported, "And according to this information, we're exactly where we were before. Right, I really don't understand that, but that's what it says."

"Then we'll have to… I have no idea what has to happen now." James replied, "So far, we've appeared in a weird place, and now suddenly we've found out that we're where we were before?"

"I know, something strange is happening… well, it has been happening for some time now. This day has also been exceptionally long." Jake said, "Either that, or I've just felt as if it was longer than it was."

"There has been something not right about today." James agreed, "It's not just the fact that this could easily be the stupidest day of our lives. There's something else happening, and we have to find what it is."

"We're not going to understand what's happening by standing around talking about finding out what it is." Mike said, "Six people are dead or injured that we know of, and another twenty could be."

"That's true." Nick agreed, "We don't know what's going on and since we just appeared here, we don't even know if running from this place is an option. But there must be something…"

"We've travelled around before, haven't we?" James asked, "Before we appeared here we had no problem travelling around, even if weird things were happening at the time."

"Well, we had no problem travelling, be we could only see sand." Mark replied, "Then we ended up in a strange city where weird people were trying to kill us. Maybe we were transported there."

"Maybe we were transported to the snowy area." John suggested, "It definitely appeared very randomly. I don't know for certain why we would get transported to these places, but maybe…"

"Maybe some supernatural force isn't sending us to these places… I know we've already been over this, but the problem is that what's happening is very random." Nick tried to reason.

"Anyway, if we're being transported to different places, the solution to the problem isn't that difficult to figure out – we only have to kill whoever keeps sending us to these places." James said.

"But considering how we were all sent to different places when we were in different places, maybe it's not intentional." Mike suggested, "I don't think something trying to kill us would keep our teams intact."

"And individual teams were travelling around, but every member of the same team ended up in the same place." Jake realised, "So maybe whatever's happening is random, and maybe it's connected with that base."

"If you're going to explore the base, I should stay here." Ted tried to explain, "We need someone to be here in case some kind of rescue team does attempt to find us, and the Geno Saurer is still being repaired."

"If it's connected with the base, we need to find out exactly what's in the base." Jake said, "Lauren, use the Matrix Dragon to try to reach civilisation while we explore the base."

Inside military base-

Everyone except for Ted and Lauren had entered the base. As expected, it was completely abandoned. They began to walk through a corridor, but they saw no sign of anything.

"There has to be some reason this base is abandoned." Nick stated, "And it has to be some reason beyond the fact that everyone in it was insanely stupid. Maybe they were attacked."

"Yes, but who would want to attack them?" John asked, "All we've seen proof of, is that there's some kind of… strange… thing… happening here. But if we don't find out what it is-"

"So far there's no indication that anything's happened here." Jake pointed out, "And yet, the base is completely deserted. But there couldn't have been a battle here because nothing was damaged."

"So what actually happened?" James asked, "The soldiers here decided they should just leave this base completely unguarded in order to not be heard of by anyone, at any time, ever?"

"I haven't heard of any soldiers abandoning a base." Nick replied, "Maybe they were killed by something here, and their bodies were hidden from sight so that nobody would notice."

"And this thing that killed them managed to repair all the damage caused in the process of chasing people through a base and fighting with then, and therefore having them fight back?" Cheryl asked.

"It's true that there's no damage to anything." John said, "So we can only assume that the furniture decided to run away during the battle, taking the walls and ceilings with it."

"But that doesn't make any sense, and besides, all the furniture is back now." Darren said, "Well, unless it's really trying to confuse us, and cause us to become maniacs and kill people."

"I think we're safe from furniture trying to drive us insane." Claire said, "Anyway, everyone knows that furniture can't drive. Now our only real problem is that we don't have the slightest clue what's happening."

"And if the rest of the day continues like that, it will be hard to notice that anything supernatural is even happening." Colin said, "Although, I've noticed that these corridors are very wide."

"I think they're designed so they can bring the Zoids through here and… wait, unless military Zoids are really small, there's no way they would get through these corridors." Mark said.

"They probably have everything they need on their carriers." Mike suggested, "So they don't need to bring a Zoid through here to take it to some kind of repair facility thing."

"Yes, but the corridors are much larger than they should be." Colin said, "Unless they plan to have squads of soldiers walking through here frequently, I don't see why they need large corridors."

"Couldn't the soldiers just walk behind each other?" Mark asked, "I don't understand why they would need to build huge corridors for something like that. More than one person can walk through a regular corridor in opposite directions anyway."

"It's as if they've built it so that squads can walk through in opposite directions, but that's just weird." Mike said, "I don't think multiple squads of soldiers use the same corridor simultaneously."

"Maybe they were built for that purpose." Jake said, as he walked through a doorway that was much larger than usual, "Maybe they wanted the people in this base to be able to prepare for any situation."

"I don't think larger corridors would help." Mark said, "If the base was under attack, surely some people would end up running into each other. There' has to be some other reason for this."

Suddenly, they arrived at another door. This door was closed, and apparently for a good reason, as it had a large sign on it reading, 'DO NOT OPEN!' and not surprisingly, Jake placed his hand on the door, preparing to open it.

"Jake, I don't think they intended this door to be opened. They've also drawn a skull-and-crossbones sign on it, even though the chances of there being pirates looked in here are very low." Mike said.

"I think this must be the thing that caused this base to be deserted." Mark suggested, "Maybe some soldiers were able to lock it in that room and then ran from the base, thinking it would escape."

"But it could also be the thing that's causing everything that's happened." Colin suggested, "Maybe they locked it in this room because it was unstable, but it's starting to affect reality anyway."

"But if something's affecting reality, then being in actual contact with it cold be extremely stupid." John said, "It could also cause everything to turn into walruses and then nobody would be able to move because the walruses would take up all the space in the room, and in every other room and corridor, and even outside. Then the walruses would try to sleep and when they fell asleep they would crush everyone by falling on them."

"Incidentally, I've never seen a walrus-based Zoid." Claire realised, "Although, if there was one, it would probably be like the Dibison, Black Rhimos, Cannon Fort and other slow-moving Zoids with heavy weaponry."

"It probably would be." Darren agreed, "But I guess the only way for us to find out now is to open the door, although it's probably better if we don't open the door. Maybe we shouldn't open it."

"But if we don't open it, we'll never know what's actually happening and we'll just be transported to more of these weird places with weird people and creatures in them." Nick said.

"But if it's anything but what we're looking for, then whatever's behind the door will probably try to kill us." Cheryl replied, "Enough people have died or been injured by now."

"We have no idea what this is." James said, "But if we have some chance to end the insanity, without having to find a walrus-based Zoid to stop the insanity, then maybe we should."

"Now that I think about it, I don't think I really want to open this door." Jake announced, "The chances of there being something dangerous in that room are much higher than what we want to find."

"Yes, but if we turn back now, we will leave without finding anything!" James shouted, "Then this insanity will continue and various creatures and people will keep attacking us."

"Some of my team have been killed because of the last attack." Mike said, "Jake, if you don't open this, then I have to take responsibility to open it, otherwise we could all die."

"Then open it." Jake said, "People on my team have also suffered because of the attacks, but I can't open it because there could easily be something much worse than anything that's attacked us so far."

"Then you leave me no choice." Mike said. Jake stepped to one side of the door and Mike approached it, "I guess in a few seconds, we'll know what the right decision was."

Mike opened the door and immediately threw himself to the floor. A stream of fire flew out of the door. Jake attempted to jump to one side but some of the flames still hit him and knocked him to the ground.

Everyone began to run, as a dragon that was for some unknown reason sealed in this locked room, began to walk out of the room. Not surprisingly, Jake couldn't stand so other people were pulling him across the ground.

Elsewhere in the base, many minutes later-

James, Cheryl, Darren, Nick and John ran through a corridor. While they ran, they heard nothing following them, but since they didn't know what to expect, they continued to run.

"I had a weird dream like this once… actually that's not true; I dreamt that a dog was locked in a fridge, which doesn't really have much resemblance to this situation." John said.

"It would have resemblance to this if the dog tried to kill everyone in sight." James replied, "Then again, not many dogs that I've seen were capable of slaughtering large groups of people."

"Yes, but this was a dream. Usually, dreams don't have to make sense. But in the off-chance that they make sense, they're usually much easier to follow than regular dreams." John reasoned.

"Well that helps… if you're trying to understand a dream, but that isn't our problem right now!" Cheryl shouted, "We're supposed to be escaping fro some kind of flying reptile thing."

"Well I know we're supposed to be trying to escape it, but if we don't escape it I doubt that will screw up everything that badly." John said, "Anyway, I might not live long enough to tell everyone else about this dream."

Mark turned back and saw the dragon flying towards him. Cheryl tried to run but her legs wouldn't move and the dragon flew into her, sending her rolling across the floor. John began to turn towards the dragon.

"If you hadn't tried to explain a dream, none of this would have happened!" James shouted, charging at John. James punched John, knocking him into a wall. John hit the wall hard and collapsed.

The dragon flew towards James, but it landed before it reached it. It slammed one of its wings into James and he was sent flying into another wall. The dragon grabbed John's head and began to lift him.

John punched the dragon but this encouraged the dragon to squeeze his head. Blood began to pour out of John's nose and he collapsed. James tried to stand and charged at the dragon but its wing knocked him away again.

Darren found a rifle, but he very quickly found that it had no ammunition. With no other choice, Darren slammed the rifle into the dragon's neck and it released John and turned towards him.

Nick and Lauren charged at the dragon, but it slammed its tail into Lauren and sent her flying backwards. Then it grabbed Darren and threw him into a wall. Nick kicked one of the dragon's legs and it turned towards him.

The dragon grabbed Nick and James charged towards it. Before he reached it, the dragon blasted the ceiling with its flames and burnt a large hole through it. It then began to fly into the air again.

"It's leaving?" James asked. The dragon flew away through the hole in the roof. James collapsed again because of the pain from when the dragon hit him. James turned to the hole but there was no sign of the dragon returning.

Elsewhere in the base-

Mike, Mark, Claire and Colin ran down another corridor, with Claire and Colin dragging Jake with them. They stopped after there was no sign of anything following them.

"I don't know where that thing came from, but something very strange is happening here." Mark said, "It's not just that there's a dragon in this base either. There's something else…"

"Maybe opening that door wasn't the best idea at the time." Mike said, "But now we have to try to find a way to escape… well technically, we could also stay here and get eaten by this flying thing."

"I would prefer if you wouldn't constantly drag me across the ground." Jake said, as he slowly stood, "We have to find a way to escape from here before that thing finds us."

"It would be much easier if nobody panicked." Claire said, "We can escape from here without finding it easily. It's huge, bulky and takes up a lot of space, and we would hear it coming."

"Then it must have followed everyone else." Colin said, "I guess this is the best chance to escape."

"But shouldn't we at least try to find anyone else?" Mark asked, "They're probably in danger of dying right now."

Outside the base-

The dragon tore through the roof of the base. It began to launch fireballs, striking the Hover Cargo and causing small explosions to engulf sections of it. The Hover Cargo was shaken repeatedly by the fireballs.

The Hover Cargo's turrets began to fire at the dragon. Several shots hit it but it was mostly unharmed, and launched four fireballs, melting the turrets and some parts of the Hover Cargo's shell.

Seconds later, a Geno Saurer emerged from the Hover Cargo. The cannons on its back fired, striking the dragon and knocking it backwards. The dragon shot a fireball at the Geno Saurer, knocking it to the ground.

The Geno Saurer slowly began to stand, and the dragon landed, staring at the Geno Saurer but not actually moving. The Geno Saurer began to approach the dragon, and the dragon stepped backwards.

The dragon threw Nick at the Geno Saurer. One of the Geno Saurer's hands extended, and it grabbed Nick, pulling him towards the Geno Saurer's arm. The dragon merely watched, apparently surprised by this.

Suddenly, the dragon launched a fireball at Nick. The Geno Saurer turned to that its other arm was hit. The arm was reduced to scrap by the fireball and fell to the ground. The Geno Saurer placed Nick on the ground.

The Geno Saurer's foot locks lowered and it prepared to fire the Charge Particle Gun. The dragon launched two fireballs, blasting the cockpit open and blasting the Geno Saurer's head off.

Despite the fact that it could now crush its enemies, the dragon decided to fly away. It blasted another hole through the roof of the military base and flew back through it, leaving its defeated opponents unharmed.

On the island-

"Well, however we got here, there has to be something important about this place." Dean said, "I don't know much about supernatural powers, but whatever brought us here must have had some reason for it."

"I know, but we've all been attacked by some kind of strange force." Dennis replied, "I don't know how we're going to find out exactly what it was that brought us here. There has to be something-"

"Komodo dragons aren't exactly supernatural creatures." Zack pointed out, "They attacked us, but they weren't supernatural creatures, and I don't think the thing attacking the Sea Panther Team was."

"It was different from any sea creatures we've seen before, and there was only one of it." Ian said, "Which suggests that it was supernatural is some way, but it didn't have any actual powers, as it were."

"It might have been the result of an experiment." Jade suggested, "If it was mutated by an experiment, then maybe that's why it killed everything in the area around it, and why it was crazy."

"Okay, so if that wasn't a supernatural creature, it must have been something else." Carl said, "The sea monsters we were attacked by were in an oil rig some distance from this place."

"I understand that, but they were also crazy, so if being crazy makes them not supernatural, then… wait, why does something being crazy make it not supernatural?" Karl asked.

"Well, normally we don't see many crazy animals, and there's a lot more crazy people than crazy animals anyway, so crazy, 'supernatural' creatures must be a result of being near humans too much." Carl explained.

"Well, that pirate that attacked us wasn't awakened until blood fell on him." Dennis said, "So it's obvious that he can't have been able to bring us here either. This is very weird."

"This is the weirdest things have been." Susan replied, "So far, a lot of things have happened to us, but if what we think is happening really is happening, then it's still not over."

"And if it's not over yet, we have to find out exactly what is happening." Frank said, "Although, the chances of finding out what's happening now really aren't that high, despite everything that's been happening recently."

"I don't think we're going to find out what's going on for some time now." Dennis said, "We're stuck on this island, and as far as we know, there isn't a single other human here."

"But if this continues, more weird things will happen to us, until we're confused to the point of complete insanity, instead of only being partially insane like we are now." Carl said.

"That's true, but if we were already completely insane we wouldn't have to worry about that." Karl pointed out, "But that really doesn't help. Our only chance now is to travel through the ocean to reach some kind of civilisation."

"If we have a choice, I'd prefer to run into some kind of alien civilisation." Frank said, "We would take control of their ship and end up stranded on their planet, but they would be stranded on this planet."

"Yes, but would it really be worth getting stranded on another planet just to get off this planet?" Susan asked, "For all we know, the aliens could be even more insane than us."

"Yes, but that insanity could help us. If they're than insane, they could have made their whole planet travel to this planet if they knew exactly what was going to happen."

"Yes, but even if they knew what was going to happen, that might not be what we think is going to happen." Carl pointed out, "So maybe we're not going to take control of their ship."

"Yes, but as far as we know, there's no chance that there are any aliens here." Karl said, "If I was an alien, I definitely wouldn't want to come to this planet, when there's so much insanity."

"But if they were more insane than us, there would be less insanity compared to on their planet." Carl said, "So coming here would save them from the stupidity, but then something…"

"I don't know what's going to happen now." Dennis said, "We could try to explore the forest, but there's Komodo dragons in it so that might not be a good idea. There's sea monsters in the ocean…."

"And there's undead pirates on the beach." Dave said, "So now matter what happens now, we'll need to find a way to get out of here, and we'll have to at least explore something."

"We will need to explore something, but I have no idea what we should be exploring, when every option could possibly result in our deaths. Maybe we should just run and act as if nothing's happened."

"Yes, but where would we run to?" Zack asked, "If we try to leave this beach, something will probably chase us, depending on what there is that's actually on this beach."

"Incidentally, I haven't seen any zombie pirates recently." Susan pointed out, "Maybe there are no more zombie pirates, and maybe if there were, they've somehow vanished."

"Well, weirder things have happened after we left the crash site." Colin said, "But if there's no pirates here, could that mean there's also no Komodo dragons or sea monsters?"

"Well, at least one thing's certain. There's no sea monsters in the forest, and there's no Komodo dragons in the ocean." Louise said, "So it should be safe to explore this island."

"I think we should be worrying about sea monsters in the ocean and Komodo dragons in the forest." Carl said, "Wait… actually, I'm mistaken. We should explore the forest first."

"Why the forest?" Zack asked, "If we go back into the forest, maybe it will go one forever again and we'll take hours to escape it, and maybe the trees will chase us and try to eat us."

"The problem is, trees trying to eat people still wouldn't be the weirdest thing that's happened today." Karl said, "We have to explore the forest if we're going to find a way out of this situation."

"I know today has been far from normal, but something else is happening." Dean said, "When we were approaching this island, we saw that it was too small to have a forest that takes hours to walk through."

"This is getting weirder." Colin said, "There have been a lot of weird incidents today, and some weren't that weird, but when you consider all of them happening in one day…"

"I think this is stupid." Carl said, "If we're going to explore that forest, we should leave now… or we could continue to stand here, discussing exploring the forest, but that won't help anyone."

"I understand." Karl said, "But you have the right idea. Unfortunately, right now it's starting to seem like exploring the forest will never happen." Karl suddenly noticed that everyone else was already walking towards the forest.

The forest-

"I don't know what the chances of this happening are, but every remote sign of that building ever being there are gone." Colin said, "We have to find out what happened to the remains."

"Maybe they went to wherever the Komodo dragons went." Fred suggested, "If they're not here, then they must be somewhere else. Maybe they took the remains with them."

"But why would they want to take the remains of a building with them?" Carl asked, "Unless this is proof of aliens abducting things… but even then, why would they want a destroyed wooden building?"

"That is strange." Karl agreed, "And it seems that we agree for once. However, it doesn't chance the fact that we can crush anything that tries to attack us… well, anything much smaller than us anyway."

"Yes, but if something much smaller than us appears, the only way for it not to get crushed will be for it to make itself much larger than us. Only then will it be able to crush us like insects." Carl said.

"That was really weird, and random." Karl replied, "Anyway, we still haven't solved the mystery of the disappearing buildings… well, actually building. There was only one that vanished."

"Technically, isn't it some ruins that vanished, since the building was already destroyed?" Dean asked, "I may be confused, through. Or insane. Actually, scratch the confused possibility, I'm definitely insane."

"I understand." Carl said, "Well actually I don't but I thought maybe you would believe that I understand, with you being insane and everything. Anyway, maybe if we find the ruins…"

"If we find the ruins, we might have some idea of what's actually happened!" Zack shouted, "If they've just vanished, then we have no idea what's happening or why, but if we find them…"

"Either a tornado or something similar, or some kind of huge creature must have moved the remains of that building, if they were moved at all." Louise tried to reason, "Komodo dragons are too small to move them."

"Yes, but not if they moved some parts of the building, and then returned and took several more parts back to… wherever they're taking these parts of the building." Carl replied.

"Why would Komodo dragons want wood?" Karl asked, "Generally speaking, most animals don't take wood away from where it is and keep it wherever they live. Or maybe nobody has seen that happen and lived to tell anyone."

"But if the Komodo dragons want wood, then they must have some kind of purpose for it." Dean pointed out, "Although, I still can't see why they would want wood since it doesn't help them at all."

"Generally speaking, I wouldn't expect animals to know that wood won't help them." Fred said, "So now I'll have to find some kind of…. Where exactly do Komodo dragons normally live anyway?"

"I have no idea." Zack replied, "But has anyone seen the weird thing that's happening here? I might be imagining this, but I don't see any komodo dragons anywhere, and they were everywhere before."

"That's not true, they weren't in the sky!" Fred shouted. After several seconds of silence, he added, "Actually, I don't see any Komodo dragons either. I don't know why they would leave though."

"Maybe they were moved into the ocean, and now this forest is being invaded by sea monsters that can't move or even breathe above water, even though we saw them in the oil rig, where there was no water." Carl suggested.

"That could cause a problem." Karl said, "If they're capable of breathing on land, then they're going to run into trees and knock themselves unconscious, because there are no trees underwater."

"Well, the one we saw on the oil rig didn't exactly know how to react to there being things it could run into." Dave realised, "Maybe that's why it kept running into a wall."

"Yes, but now that that mystery's been solved, we only have to find a way to… wait, what else are we expecting to happen here? The Phoenix Team found nothing in this forest when they travelled through it." Carl said.

"Yes, but they were just trying to reach the other end of the forest." Karl said, "Because of that, they could easily have missed something. So now, we have to find it, in the off-chance it could be remotely useful."

"So we're going to search a whole forest?" Carl asked, "Doesn't that seem at least slightly insane to you? There has to be some way to solve this problem without searching a whole forest."

"There could easily be something, but I don't know if we're going to find anything." Fred replied, "Okay, to be completely honest for once, yes, this is exceptionally stupid. We should leave now."

"Wait, I think I've found something." Carl said, "Actually, considering the size of our Zoids you'd think we wouldn't have to search so hard to find something, but there's some kind of building here."

"I really hope it's not another small wooden building, that's becoming a cliché." Zack said, "Then again, if it is, maybe it's the same one we saw before and somehow it transported itself over here."

"It would also have had to rebuild itself." Dennis replied, "And somehow, I don't see that happening… unless the building was really a supernatural being disguising itself as a building."

"Anyway, this building isn't made of wooden… er, wood. And it's not very small either. Maybe it's a mansion or something. There's a sign that says, 'this house is abandoned for the convenience of everyone.'"

"I don't see how that's convenient. But since there's already a house here, maybe we should at least try to find something that can help us contact the emergency services." Zack suggested.

Inside the abandoned mansion-

"I don't see how this mansion is supposed to keep us safe." Carl said, "For one thing, there's nothing that it's keeping us safe from, as far as we know anyway. Now we must find a way to…"

"I don't know what you're trying to find a way to accomplish, but it's obvious that all we need is a phone. Then again, it will probably be completely unable to get through to anyone." Karl replied.

"Actually, this proves something." Carl realised, "If there's buildings here and people are leaving notes on them and there's things in them, then there have to be people on this island."

"Yes, but how will we find them?" Karl asked, "And anyway, isn't it already obvious that there's people here if you saw an oil rig not far from this island and there's no other land in sight."

"I have no idea what's happening, but there has to be some way to understand everything." Dean said, "Since we began searching for any civilisation, we've been failing to find it miserably."

"Actually, that's much better than having something fall on our heads." Dave said, "And the way things keep getting weirder, something probably is going to fall on our heads in a moment."

"I don't think there's going to be stuff falling on us." Ian replied, "Well, not when we think it is, but if we ever decide to stop searching for a city, one will probably fall on us."

"Dave, I don't think you're completely sane… even by our very loose definition of 'sane'." Dennis said, "Why would you suddenly get the idea that something's going to fall on us?"

"I really don't know." Dave replied, "But I've got the idea that someone's watching us, and I was just thinking, maybe their plan is to drop something on our heads and knock us out."

"Well, there's got to be something happening." Ian explained, "Even if someone is spying on us, they probably have more important things to think about, possibly including someone stealing all the dogs in the world."

"Okay, maybe someone will try to capture all the dogs in the world, but now that I think of it, I've never seen a dog in my life." Carl said, "Maybe there's some conspiracy involving them."

"If there was a conspiracy involving dogs, I don't think dogs would still be walking around and… that many stupid things involving dogs would happen." Karl said, "But whenever I see dogs they're usually wondering around aimlessly."

"Unless they're trying to convince everyone that dogs are really stupid, while in reality they're not, and they're planning to take over the Earth because they're from space." Ian suggested.

"I don't know where any of you get your ideas from, but things are constantly getting weirder… if by 'things' you mean weird conversations. Mainly weird conversations started by-"

"No, I've found out the secret!" Carl shouted, "Cats are actually inventors who invented dogs. Rats are rejected attempts at inventing dogs and cats eat mice because mice smell really bad!"

"I've never really noticed that." Fred replied, "Mainly because there aren't any mice here, or anywhere. They were all killed during the unusual battle in which Shield Ligers fell apart by themselves."

"I heard of that battle." Claire stated, "I heard that they all died because they were squashed by the remains of the Shield Ligers, and the Gordoses ate all the Gojulases, rendering them nearly extinct."

"That's true, but there were also some King Gojulases that also died." Zack said, "And after Gojulases and King Gojulases were wiped out across the planet, a piece of rice turned into a Gojulas Giga."

"Then a grain of salt turned into another Gojulas Giga." Dennis added, "That's why we've only seen two of them in our whole lives. Unfortunately for them they couldn't reproduce."

"I'm not surprised." Carl said, "I don't think either of them would want to be near a mountain, and we all know that only when on top of a mountain, can they roll down it and squash everything."

"But that only happened in the great squashing massacre of the year that defied time." Zack said, "Although, that year is also this year, since it… well, it defied time, so there aren't any other years."

"If we keep discussing that event, then the people squashed by the Zoids during that year will come back and haunt us for eternity." Dean pointed out, "We have to find another subject."

"So you still believe that?" Zack asked, "Those people can't come back and haunt us, except for the Great Ghost Cook of Demise, but even he can't come back unless someone says his name five times while looking into a mirror."

"But so far, nobody's bothered to find out his name, since everyone just calls him 'Great Ghost Cook of Demise'." Louise added, "So because of that nobody will find out who he is… well, was"

"Doesn't it bother you that people called him the 'Great Ghost Cook of Demise'?" Dean asked, "It definitely bothers me. Did they name him that knowing that he could come back and haunt people?"

"Well, according to some crazy legend, the reason they called him that was because he thought he was cooking food for ghosts, but failed to realise that those he was cooking food for were alive." Zack explained.

"Okay, but at least he wasn't as bad as the Unheroic Stoned Butcher of DIEEEEEE!" Frank said, "We all know why he was named that, and it was because he stood there and watched people be murdered."

"There was someone who just stood there watching people get killed?" Dave asked, "No, wait, I've heard of him. Wasn't that the guy who thought horror movie victims were real people?"

"Well, he thought they were real people, but that was only because he was stoned." Ian explained, "If he hadn't been stoned, then maybe he would have known he was only watching a movie."

"But if the people he was watching were just victims in horror movies, how did he become so famous?" Dave asked.

"Well, he wasn't famous… that's the main reason nobody's heard of him before now." Jade tried to explain.

"It's weird, but now I don't think there's someone following us." Dave said, "Or maybe there is and he's just invisible."


	7. Chapter 7

Zoids – Dimension Crisis

"I know this isn't the best time to try to think of a plan, but a dragon was attempting to kill us a few seconds ago." John said.

"Well, at least we're still alive… for now, anyway." James said, "Maybe we should be trying to get out of here before we die."

"Yes, maybe we should." Cheryl said, "The problem is that there's nobody anywhere near here. I don't know how this base got here but we should be trying to find the solution."

"Yes, but it doesn't matter, because that dragon made a hole in the roof and flew away." John said, "We should be taking this opportunity to leave here and not return. Or we could return, after we find the army."

"Well, you're not going to find the army, because this was a military base at some point, so all the army people must have died." Darren said, "We should just escape from here and find a way to kill that thing."

"If we could kill it, something else could appear." John pointed out, "Every place we've gone to so far, and everything we've defeated caused something else to appear and attack us."

"Yes, there is definitely something weird going on there." Darren agreed, "But right now, we need to find a way to escape. When that happens, we'll find some solution to… well, something, anyway."

"I still don't understand why this is happening." Cheryl said, "Right now we have to leave. Or at least, something has to happen in some sense. Maybe we should just run and not think about anything."

"Maybe we should at least think about the people trapped here." James said, "For all we know, they're never going to be able to escape from here, and even if they could something would chase them."

"Yes, we already know something's going to chase them!" John shouted, "Now, if its chasing them, then it can't possibly be chasing us, so therefore, we can escape from this place now."

"I understand." James said, "But… actually that makes no sense. We're supposed to leave everyone here and run away from this building in order to escape from something that could follow us anyway."

"Yes, but since our Zoids are outside and trying to fight it with our bare hands is extremely stupid, our only choice, well, thinking realistically anyway, is to find some way to escape from this building." John said.

"Actually, that plan might work." Cheryl said, "We don't know what happened to Nick, but even if the dragon killed him, it took a long to time kill one person. We should save at least three people if we can leave this building."

"Yes, but if we save three people they'll stay in the same place as us, and then we'll have to live with them being annoying." James said, "I'm not sure if saving them is a good idea."

"But some of them are your team mates, who you've been living with for years, working with for nearly every waking moment, trying to protect in various battles… okay, I see your point." Darren said.

"Well, we could be running out of time right now." John said, "Well, assuming we actually decide these people are worth saving, but I guess that's not important. We have to have some kind of plan."

"I don't see why." Darren explained, "All we have to do now is get out of this building. If the dragon is attacking other people, then there's nothing to prevent us from leaving this place."

"That's true, but if it didn't find them it will be searching for any possible victims." James replied, "And if it finds us here, we will be crushed by the weight of a falling ox… well actually, no, we won't, but you get the idea."

"So how exactly are we going to get out of here?" Cheryl asked, "For all we know, that dragon could be anywhere. When we try to leave, we could be incinerated, or torn apart."

"Well, for one thing, there's always a chance of surviving." James said, "I don't know how we're going to get out of here, but at least if we walk slowly, then our chances of survival are higher."

"Our chances of survival should be relatively high." John said, "That dragon hasn't flown back through the hole it made in the roof to begin with, so maybe it forgot how to fly."

"Well, we have to at least get out of this room, because for all we know, it could easily remember how to fly." Cheryl suggested, "If we don't have much chance of it finding us…"

"Well, we're going to have to avoid running into it." Darren said, "For some reason, it left most of us alive last time, but if it attacks again, it might decide to slaughter everyone in sight."

"That's the solution!" James shouted, "It might decide to slaughter everyone in sight, so it's obvious what has to happen now. We have to find something that will make us be invisible. It's the only way to escape from this situation."

"That's the worst plan I've ever heard!" Darren shouted, "Everyone knows that dragons can see invisible people! In order to escape we're going to need a much better plan than that."

"Well, it's not entirely that it's a bad plan than makes it worthless, it's more the fact that it's completely impossible." John pointed out, "If we had just run now, maybe we would have escaped by now."

"That's probably true." James said, "Okay, we can't waste our efforts trying to think of stupid plans. We have to find a way to escape from here, and that would probably involve…"

"It could involve any number of things!" John shouted, "But if your plan involves _running_, that would probably be a good place to start, because we have to escape from here."

"Okay, running is definitely a good idea, but we don't know if reptiles are sensitive to the vibrations, because… well, I doubt anyone here has had any reason to find out about reptiles." Darren tried to explain.

"I don't think we're going to live long enough to worry about learning about reptiles if this continues!" Cheryl shouted, "Then again, maybe running _is_ a bad idea. Maybe we should walk very slowly."

"Okay, but it's going to take much longer to escape from this place if we're walking very slowly." John said, "Maybe this is a stupid question, but is there a reason why nobody bothered to learn about reptiles?"

"It's probably because this whole planet is obsessed with Zoids." James replied, "Zoids are cool and everything, but I don't think the whole planet should revolve around them."

A corridor-

"Does it occur to anyone that when we were running, we were just running almost blindly?" Darren asked, "So in other words, we have absolutely no idea how to get out of here."

"I know." John agreed, "To be completely honest, we should have known that not paying attention to anything was almost certain to result in something like this. But I guess we have to find the way out anyway."

"I don't see what the problem is." James said, "Its obvious how we have to get out of here. All we really need to do is run around randomly, screaming our heads off at all times."

"Yes, but that could take several hours." Cheryl said, "Anyway, it won't matter if dragons are sensitive to vibrations then because it would be able to find us anyway, unless it only thought it could."

"Okay, so how the heck are we supposed to leave?" John asked, "If there's all these weird things, for lack of the effort to think of them specifically, why would we live long enough to escape?"

"Well, technically, we wouldn't." Darren said, "But that's the best part. When the dragon thinks it killed us, we can run and then… well, I don't really know. But something will happen."

"Are you sure a dragon would just assume it killed us and just leave?" Cheryl asked, "Isn't it more likely that it really would kill us, and even if it thought we were dead, wouldn't it try to eat our remains?"

"Maybe it wouldn't." John suggested, "Maybe it would just throw them at some random Zoid it saw while it was smashing holes in the roof. Possibly a Geno Saurer or something."

"That's the worst suggestion in history." James replied, "Why would a dragon be stupid enough to throw people at Zoids? It wouldn't achieve anything except possibly killing the humans."

"It can kill the humans easily enough without trying to… well, achieve something… I forgot what, exactly." John said, "But what would happen if someone attacked it with a Zoid?"

"Given that moist of the people here probably had Zoids and they're dead or at least ran like there was no tomorrow, I don't think that fight would be anything but one-sided." Darren replied.

"Well anyway, I've just remembered where we entered the base!" John shouted, "The doors at the other end of this corridor lead outside. I knew it would be something stupid like that!"

"Okay, but if you knew it would be something stupid like that, why didn't you explain it?" James asked, "If you had told us about that earlier, we could have just left instead of having all this weird stuff happen."

"Does it really matter?" Cheryl asked, "Now that we've found something, we also know more about the situation. But since everyone else could be dead by now, we should just run."

"We should run?" James asked, "But haven't we already had this discussion? And wasn't it decided that we shouldn't run in case the dragon is sensitive to the vibrations?"

"Does it really matter when the door is a few meters away from us?" John asked. Nobody could argue with that, apparently, so everyone decided to run towards the door.

Outside military base-

"Okay, we've made it. What the heck is supposed to happen now?" James asked, "Should we just run to the Hover Cargo and leave this place, or are we expecting there to be some other incident…"

"I think we should close the door! Oh, wait, I'm holding the door." John said, as he closed the door. The door bounced back and slammed into his head. But then it fell back and somehow locked into position.

"I don't know what's going on here, but that could be a problem." Cheryl said. She tried to open the door, only to find that it wouldn't open, "Does this mean everyone else is trapped inside?"

"Probably." Darren replied, "Actually we should have known something like this would happen. But now there's no way get back into the base and find out if anyone's still alive."

"We could at least try to return to the Hover Cargo and find out if anything happened… well, if the dragon attacked the Hover Cargo when it left the base." John said.

"I can see from here that the Hover Cargo is badly damaged." Darren replied, "Obviously that thing must have damaged the Hover Cargo, and Ted must have fought it with the Geno Saurer."

The Gildragon was flying above the remains of the Geno Saurer. It began to land, and then it grabbed the Geno Saurer and flew into the air, trying to take it back to the Hover Cargo.

However, the Geno Saurer suddenly began glowing. The Geno Saurer appeared to explode, and the explosion engulfed the Gildragon. The Gildragon fell to the ground and the people who had just left the military base ran towards it.

"We really don't need any other Zoids being badly damaged now." James said. When he reached the Gildragon, he stared into the cockpit and found that it was empty! James staggered back, surprised.

However, the smoke cleared, revealing that there was now a black version of the Gildragon flying where the Gildragon had been. The Geno Saurer had completely vanished.

"Okay, this is really weird." Darren said, "I don't know what we should be expecting to happen now, but there's two of those weird Pterodragon things flying around. The insanity won't stop getting more insane."

"What the heck are Pterodragons?" James asked, before immediately realising, "They're supposed to be dragons, but they have Pteranodon wings. For once something makes sense."

The black 'Pterodragon' flew towards the Gildragon. It attempted to lift the Gildragon, and it succeeded, but the weight of the Gildragon was preventing it from flying more than twenty feet above the ground.

The black 'Pterodragon' struggled to fly higher when it reached the Hover Cargo. Eventually it raised the Gildragon high enough to be loaded onto a ramp, which brought the Gildragon inside the Hover Cargo.

Inside military base-

"We've been here for seconds, and not just seconds, but millions of seconds." Mark said, "Well okay, actually we've been in this room for about five minutes, but we still need to find a way to escape."

"Maybe we could find a way to escape, but somehow I'm starting to doubt that's going to happen." Mike said, "Even though there's a door and in order to reach it we only need to walk forward several feet."

"Actually, there could be anything when we pass through that door." Colin said, "When I think about it, I realise that in reality, everyone is crazy except for Jervis Jarvis."

"Well, that really makes no sense." Claire said, "Although maybe it would if I knew who this 'Jervis Jarvis' guy was. But despite everything, I don't think we're going to be able to escape."

"I may have made a bad decision before, but really, there's a door several feet away." Jake replied, "I don't see what the problem is. We could easily escape from here and we wouldn't have to worry about anything chasing us."

"Usually things don't chase me." Mark said, "If things normally chase you I guess that's your problem. But since this place was used by the military at some point, there's probably traps."

"There could be, but I doubt it." Mike replied, "See, if there were traps here, we probably would have run into at least one by now, but since that hasn't happened, it's obvious that there are none."

"Maybe we're just lucky." Mark suggested, "Maybe the reason we haven't run into any traps was because they failed to detect any sign of intelligence, but now that we're thinking about it…"

"I don't think sensing intelligence would cause the traps to activate, because if they were designed to sense intelligence they would never become active." Mike said, "Also, that dragon could have triggered the traps if there were any."

"Yes, but not if they were designed to sense intelligence." Mark suggested, "Even though that dragon is probably less insane than anyone else here… okay, maybe there aren't any traps."

"So now that we know there probably aren't any traps, how can we escape from this situation?" Colin asked, "After we walk through the door, we'll just be standing in another room."

"I know, but there could be things in that room that could help. Things like… fire extinguishers, and water pistols." Mark suggested, "Well, they wouldn't really help, but we could imagine that they could help."

"Imagining that things can help is really isn't going to save us from this situation." Claire said, "We need something that actually can help, even though there probably isn't anything."

"There might not be anything that can help in that room, but is it really that bad to just try to find out if there is something?" Jake asked, "I don't see how it could cause us any more problems."

"Considering that we're being chased by a huge dragon thing, I don't think there's anything that could give us any more problems." Mike said, "The best idea now is to escape from here!"

"Shouldn't that be obvious?" Jake asked, "And should we be trying to get out of here by working together, or by throwing everyone else out of the way and running towards the exit?"

"Well, working together requires actual thinking, and we know that only five people out of everyone here are capable of that, so we have to try to escape by shoving everyone out of the way." Mark replied.

"I understand." Mike said, "But if nobody tries to get to the door first, then nobody will have to shove them out of the way, which in turn, means we have a much higher chance of escaping."

"Yes, but we've already agreed not to actually think about this while we're trying to escape." Claire said, "Well actually, we agreed not to work together, but as long as we're trying to come up with a plan…"

"Actually, that could be considered trying to work together." Colin said, "So now we can't attempt to think of a plan. Now we must run towards the door, preferably while shoving other people out of the way."

"Do we have to shove other people out of the way, or should we just run past them?" Mark asked, "If we run past them we won't have to worry about them, unless they slam something heavy into our heads."

"Yes, but who would be able to carry something heavy with them when they're trying to get outside?" Mike asked, "Anyway, despite everything, things are starting to seem like we won't get outside…"

"Well, we're going to have to find a way to get outside!" Jake shouted, "I don't care about the fact that nobody wants to help me, I'll just run like my life depended on it and break through the door."

"But all the doors nearby are already open." Claire pointed out. Suddenly the ceiling began to crack. The dragon flew through the ceiling, breaking a large hole through it and falling onto the floor.

The dragon's weight began to break through the floor. Everyone tried to run but they ran into each other and collapsed. They struggled to stand, but before they could the floor collapsed!

Everyone landed in the room below them. Once again they tried to stand and began to run from the dragon. The problem was that most of them ran into walls and collapsed. Only Jake was still running.

The dragon launched two fireballs. One hit Jake in the back and caused him to collapse and the other slammed into a large door and melted part of it. There was now a very small hole in the door.

"I think I'm going to make it!" Jake shouted, but the dragon flew over to him and lifted him into the air, before throwing him at the door. Jake hit the door with enough force to break through it.

"We might not escape, there's still about half of a door in our way." Mike said. Inexplicably, the dragon launched a fireball at Jake, despite the fact that he was probably dead. The remains of the door were melted.

"Finally, we're free!" Mark shouted, but the dragon launched another fireball at him. Somehow it only caused his feet to catch on fire, and he began to run in circles, trying to escape the burning.

"Well, at least he won't be shoving anyone out of his way!" Mike shouted. Suddenly the dragon slammed its front claws into his face and he collapsed, but Colin and Claire continued to run.

"We're never going to both reach that door, I have no choice but to leave you so you can be torn apart and eaten by that dragon!" Colin shouted, as he ran towards the door.

"Colin, you idiot, it's about three seconds away!" Claire shouted. Colin and Claire ran through the doorway, and for some reason the dragon didn't incinerate them despite having the perfect opportunity to.

Outside military base-

"Now that I think about it, why are we here?" Colin asked, before immediately remembering, "Oh, right, there's supposed to be a dragon trying to kill us for some insane reason."

The dragon flew out of the building, but it decided to knock Colin and Claire to the ground with its wings instead of actually killing them. A Gildragon was launched from the Hover Cargo.

"I'm still alive!" Nick shouted, "Although I was nearly killed, and I've just recovered from being in a coma, so maybe I'm slightly disorientated." The Gildragon crashed into the ground for no obvious reason.

"Maybe he's _slightly_ disorientated?" Claire asked, watching as the Gildragon launched a missile at the Hover Cargo, blasting a hole in the side of it, and proceeded to fire on the base.

"I don't know about this, but maybe he's gone completely insane. And maybe we should move away from here." Colin suggested. Colin and Claire ran from the base, but the Gildragon suddenly stopped firing.

The dragon launched a fireball at the Gildragon, but it missed because the Gildragon began to roll along the ground. It fired several shots in random directions and hit nothing.

"Well, I couldn't find help, but I've returned!" Lauren shouted, as the Matrix Dragon flew towards the area. The Gildragon shot at the Matrix Dragon repeatedly, blasting its wings off and causing it to crash-land.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to be firing at, but tell me if I'm not hitting the right target!" Nick shouted as he continued to fire at everything but the thing he was supposed to be shooting.

The Slash Liger's blades extended and it leapt into the air, attempting to cut through the dragon's left wing, but the dragon flew away from the Slash Liger. The Slash Liger couldn't fly so it landed on its face.

"James, the worst thing about that, is that it's possibly the closest you've come to actually hitting your target." Cheryl said, as the Snipe Liger fired away at the dragon, causing it no harm, apparently.

"It can't be. I've hit my target before." James said. The Decalto Dragon flew towards the area, firing repeatedly at the dragon. However, the dragon for some reason wasn't hit by any of the Decalto Dragon's shots.

"I can't believe nobody's capable of hitting that huge flying thing." James said, surprised. The black 'Pterodragon' was launched from the Hover Cargo again and firing on the dragon.

The dragon was actually hit and was shaken by the shots from the black 'Pterodragon', but it was getting sick of fighting complete morons who could barely hit anything, so it bit its own throat as hard as possible and died!

The island-

"Well, so far we've been here for several days… I mean, hours, and there's probably nothing on this island." Dennis said, "Maybe there were people once, but they've left some time ago."

"Maybe they've left some time ago, and maybe nobody will ever see them, but whatever it is that's happening, there's a sign over there that I think could be some kind of code." Ian said, pointing to an 800-foot sign.

"That sign says, 'We left this island… four hundred years ago, by the time you'll be reading this, Dennis, and the reason was because of giant, radioactive Komodo dragons'." Dennis read, "That sounds a bit too specific."

"Yes, it's almost as if they knew we would be here." Ian said, "See, here's a note that says, 'That plan of yours to escape from the undead pirate was awesome. By the way, there's no more of them on this island.'."

"At least there aren't any more of them on the island, but here's a note that says, 'It's too bad that Ian was killed by that pirate.'." Dennis said, "I don't think their predictions are that great."

"Maybe they're trying to predict what will happen next." Jade said, "Except that they've already left here… so it must be a conspiracy. They're trying to make us think they couldn't possibly be planning…"

"I think you're confusing everyone, and I don't get confused easily, except when I was watching 'The Matrix' and I couldn't figure out if this stuff was happening in front of me, or if it was a movie." Dave replied.

"Well that doesn't really give anyone the idea that you're that competent, but maybe we should move on from that." Ian suggested, "There's something strange going on here."

"Yes, there is something very strange happening." Dennis agreed, "But if we don't find out what it is, we'll never learn the secret of this island, which means we'll probably never escape!"

Dennis turned away from the window. When he turned away from it, a giant Komodo dragon approached and began eating a nearby house. Dennis began to turn towards the window and the Komodo dragon ran out of sight.

Suddenly someone ran into the room. This person couldn't be identified thanks to a mask that looked like a clown's face, and he also had an axe. Without hesitating he charged at Dennis, but Zack accidentally knocked a chair away from the table. The 'clown' tripped on one of the chair's legs and dropped his axe. It landed with the blade pointed upwards, and then he collapsed and landed on the blades and died. Some people heard the sound of this and began to turn towards him.

"Why is there a dead guy here?" Ian asked, "Oh heck, it doesn't matter. Maybe if we throw his remains outside, we can find out if any Komodo dragons are going to show up and eat him."

"Anyway, we still don't have a plan to get off this island." Dean said, "The Sea Panther I took from Jane since she was dead anyway is beginning to repair itself. I mean, my Sea Panther is beginning to repair itself."

"Sea Panthers can repair themselves?" Ian asked, before realising that Dean appeared to be very confused, "Actually, I hadn't noticed that happening before either. Now we never need to bother repairing our Sea Panthers again."

"Well, at least that's one thing we needed. We needed it because we have no money, or at least we won't once I buy a Whale King DX. It's like a regular Whale king but with toilets in the cockpit." Dean said.

"I understand, but do we really need a Whale King now?" Ian asked, "All we have to do now is sell the transport we have and buy a Gustav. Maybe it can't transport three Sea Panthers though…"

"Yes, but we could always buy another platform and position the third Sea Panther on it." Dean said, "It would save a lot of money, but then again we don't really know if it would, because…"

"I really don't understand what's going on." Ian said, "Are you still thinking about buying a Whale King DX? And wouldn't that be like when one person sold his Bio Gojulas and bought a Gojulas the Ogre?"

"Yes, but this is better because instead of having 'ogre' written on the sides of its cannons, it has toilets in the cockpit." Dean explained, "Even though we won't even be in the cockpit most of the time."

"I still think my idea is better." Ian said, "See, we could save a lot more money if we don't buy a Whale King DX and instead buy a Gustav and some platform thing that attaches to the back of it."

"Yes, but that would be a _wise decision_." Dean said, "And if we make a _wise decision, _we will be in danger of our reputation as horrible Zoid pilots being ruined. Then again, we just let people we couldn't stand join our team."

"Yes, but that was because they had Sea Panthers." Ian explained, "And because they had Sea Panthers, that automatically meant they should be on our team, despite the stupidity of that logic."

"Actually, maybe we should be trying to find people with Gojulas Mariners." Dean suggested, "They would be able to help us to forget how we forgot something that it was important for us not to forget."

"Okay… while you're planning that, maybe we should be planning how to escape from here." Zack suggested, "So far, we haven't found anything that will help us to escape."

"Maybe you should be trying to find a raft or something." Dean replied, "That way you would be able to escape from this island, and the crazy people on it would be incapable of following you."

"Well, at least some of your ideas aren't completely mental." Zack said, "But to be honest, we all have to escape from this place, because remaining here could cause our deaths."

"Well, I don't really care if it causes my death." Ian said, "Oh wait, it's my clone's death that I don't really care about. And come to think of it, I haven't actually been cloned yet."

"Well, whenever you are cloned, send your clone to find something. Now, if he gets eaten, then we'll know that that there really are giant Komodo dragons which were eating people at one point." Jade suggested.

"Yes, and presumably they would still be here, if they could eat a clone of someone who was searching for them." Ian said, "But if everyone left this island, they must have used all of the boats."

"Well, if they used all of the boats to escape, then there's no point searching for more boats, and I don't think everyone could enter in the cockpits of the three Sea Panthers." Dean replied.

"Thankfully, the Warriors of Command already left to search for any kind of threat, so we don't have to worry that much about the possibility of giant komodo dragons." Frank stated.

Elsewhere on the island-

Three Command Wolves ran through a forest, but then the central Command Wolf's front legs slammed into two trees and the command wolf was knocked to the ground. Dave was shaken severely inside the cockpit.

"I can't believe our leader is this incompetent. Maybe we should try to join the ZBC forces again, since it's obviously pointless to continue following his orders." Carl suggested.

"Maybe, but that would require us to come up with another plan." Karl said, "As long as he's in command, we don't have to think of our own strategies and any failures will be because of him."

"So basically, you only follow my orders to conceal your own stupidity?" Dave asked, but he got no response, "Exactly as I thought… now I have to find out if it's possible for this Command Wolf to stand again."

"I thought Command Wolves could do anything, but now this one Command Wolf could be incapable of standing?" Karl asked, "I'm starting to doubt the existence of reality."

"Yes, but if we continue to doubt the existence of reality instead of actually trying to solve the problem, then things will continue to get worse." Carl said, "We have to find a way to help Dave."

The fallen Command Wolf suddenly began to roll towards the others. Carl and Karl were too surprised to realise what was happening, and the Command Wolf slammed into them.

"Dave, I don't think knocking over all the other Command Wolves is going to solve the problem." Carl said, "We need to at least return to that deserted mansion, if we can't find anything else."

"Actually, we are in the middle of an island where supposedly many people have died. Maybe we should stop acting like idiots." Dave said. The three Command Wolves began to stand but their heads slammed into each other.

"I don't know why you're so bad at piloting Command Wolves!" Dave shouted, "I don't know how it's possible for you to be so bad at piloting them that you can't even make them stand!"

"We can at least make them run through a forest without running into trees and rolling across the ground and knocking over other Command Wolves!" Carl shouted, not noticing something approaching.

"I should start my own team!" Karl shouted, "No matter what happens, I'm always followed by you idiots and two other idiots who haven't been following me much lately."

Suddenly a gigantic Komodo dragon leapt onto the back of the Command Wolves piloted by Carl and Karl. It grabbed the head of the third Command Wolf with its jaws and began to crush it.

"The glass… it's breaking… it's not withstanding several hundred tons of force!" Dave shouted in amazement as the glass of the cockpit began to break. Suddenly he remembered that he hadn't eaten the toast that was in the toaster in the mansion.

"No, the toast! I have to get to it before someone sees it sticking out of the toaster in my home that nobody else lives in, which is hundreds or possibly thousands of miles away!" Dave shouted.

Unfortunately for Dave, he couldn't break free of the Komodo dragon and it crushed the cockpit of his Command wolf and ate him. It then began to devour the remains of the Command Wolf.

The mansion-

"I know this mansion is supposed to be safe, but somehow I don't think I'll ever consider this place to be safe, even though we haven't seen anything that can cause us harm lately." Ian said.

"Yes, but don't forget, just because we haven't see anything that can kill us, doesn't mean nobody plugged too many things into a plug socket when they left, which in turn could cause this mansion to burn down." Dean replied.

"I think you're gradually becoming more insane than you were when we first met." Jade said, "I used to think you were only as insane as everyone else on this crazy planet, but now-"

"I don't know if anyone else is having this problem, but for some reason the Warriors of Command aren't responding." Dennis said, "Maybe we should send someone to find them."

"If we send someone to find them, and something happens to them, then we'll know that there's at least some things wrong with this island." Zack replied, "But I think things will get worse soon."

"Well, there have been a few strange things happening, and I've seen similar things in movies, and usually in those movies, things get much worse when it gets dark!" Jade shouted.

"Well, at least it's not even close to getting dark. It shouldn't be dark for another six hours or so." Zack said, "And during that time, our only chance is to find a way to escape from here."

"I was just thinking… it would take too long for people to decide which boats to use and if people were on a boat, they probably wouldn't wait for others to come." Dean pointed out.

"So basically, there's no chance of any boats being left here, unless the boats are in really bad condition." Ian realised, "So now our only chance is to find somewhere where there's dogs."

"I don't know what you're thinking, but there's no way we could escape from this place by riding on the back of dogs." Jade said, "Anyway, I doubt there are any dogs here."

"That's right, they probably ate each other to avoid starvation." Fred agreed, "But we still can't leave here until we find some kind of boat, or at least a model of a boat. But only if it's a realistic model of a boat."

"I don't think we're ever going to fool the ocean into thinking that a model boat is a real boat and then sit on top of the model boat and have it somehow carry us across the ocean." Jade replied.

"That's right; the ocean is far too intelligent for that to work." Fred realised, "So now we're back to trying to find out how we're going to escape from this place. Unless this island is actually a boat."

"Isn't it important to at least find the Warriors of Command?" Frank asked, "I'm supposed to be critically injured and I'm still standing around wondering what happened to them."

"Well, if someone who isn't that far from being dead is worried about them, why not?" Dean asked, "We'll travel through the ocean with our Sea Panthers and find… well, something, hopefully."

The ocean-

The three Sea Panthers travelled through the ocean; apparently, Dean's Sea Panther had now completely regenerated itself. Exactly how it was capable of regenerating itself was still unknown.

"Since we got here, things have continued to get stupider." Ian said, "The only way to escape from this is… we've been over this already, but first we need to find someone. Hopefully someone with a brain."

"Well, we would all be happy to find someone with a brain, but what are the chances of meeting someone with a brain on this island?" Jade asked, "Anyway, we're searching for the Warriors of Command."

"I don't know why we have to search for them." Dean said, "Ever since they began claiming that Command Wolves were invincible, there have been many teams where everyone piloted a Command Wolf."

"Yes, that's much worse than everyone piloting a Sea Panther." Ian said sarcastically, "We really must have been stoned when we had this idea, because things are really getting stupid."

"In addition to which, we all had much better Zoids at home, which we never used because we had Sea Panthers. We should have realised that Sea Panthers weren't that great." Jade agreed.

"Maybe if we had realised that, we wouldn't be in this situation now." Dean replied, "But I've detected something… we're getting closer to where the Warriors of Command were last."

"How can you know where they were last?" Ian asked, "Isn't that kind of… well, impossible? I don't think you really have a device to tell you where people were last, because…"

"Okay, to be completely honest, I just invented it in my mind because it gave me the idea I was in control of things more than I really was." Dave said, "But now you know that, you can't leave here alive."

"We're probably not going to leave here alive anyway." Jade said, as the Sea Panthers began to climb onto the coast, "I don't know why we thought we could find them here."

"I don't know why you would want to find them here… or anywhere else, really." Ian said. Suddenly, the side of his Sea Panther was crushed. A large Komodo dragon kicked it and sent it flying into the ocean.

"I don't remember anyone mentioning that the Komodo dragons on this island were so huge." Jade said. The Komodo dragon jumped up and down on her Sea Panther until it was flat.

"Yes, I guess that can cause problems." Dave said, forgetting that he wasn't actually speaking to anyone anymore. The Komodo dragon chased his Sea Panther, which ran away very slowly.

The mansion-

"The Sea Panther team haven't bothered to return either." Dennis reported, "Well, at least, not within the two minutes they've been gone for. Maybe they're searching for another island."

"Maybe they're searching for some people who aren't completely insane." Frank suggested, "Or maybe they're still searching for the Warriors of Command, since they didn't leave that long ago."

"Maybe they found the Warriors of Command, and then they and the Warriors of Command decided to get off this island. We already know that the Command Wolves can travel across water." Susan suggested.

"Maybe you haven't given them anywhere near enough time before coming up with stupid conclusions." Zack suggested, "They'll be somewhere on the island, we only have to find them."

"Doesn't it occur to you that if anyone else leaves, there will barely be anyone here?" Fred asked, "From everything we've seen so far, that would be a really bad idea. There has to be another solution."

"So far, all we know is that things will get worse when it gets dark… well actually we're just guessing that things will get worse when it gets dark." Louise replied, "But there's almost six hours until it gets dark."

"Well that's one reason to stay here." Dennis said, "I don't think they're going to find the Warriors of Command and find some way to escape from this place, what with time speeding up and everything."

"I didn't notice that." Fred replied, as he turned towards a clock, and saw the hands of the clock spinning around in circles, "At this rate something very strange will happen soon."

"Something very strange is happening now!" Frank shouted, "Does time accelerating seem normal to you? Maybe there's been some strange incidents so far, but this is just really weird."

"If this continues, it will be dark within about three minutes." Louise realised, "And if it's dark within three minutes, then it will take a lot less than six hours to get dark. Then again, maybe the Warriors of Command will return faster."

"Well, we're definitely not doing anything faster than we normally would." Zack said, "So comparatively, the Warriors of Command must be returning to this place very slowly."

"Okay, but what happens when they get here?" Frank asked, "And what if they decide to just run from this island since things are obviously getting much weirder than they were before?"

"If they decided to run from this island, then we wouldn't have to worry about anything happening to them anymore." Zack pointed out, "But if they're going to return here…"

"If they decide to return here, they'll realise that the events happening on this island are even crazier than the people on this island!" Dennis shouted, "Now, the only solution is to…"

"See, you don't know the end of that sentence." Zack said, "But if you did, then we would know how to get out of this situation. However, since we obviously don't know, we have to be prepared for whatever happens when it gets dark."

"Well, I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm just going to stand by this window now. Maybe I'll be able to see something approaching." Fred announced, "The Warriors of command should return soon."

Suddenly the head of a large Komodo dragon broke through the window and grabbed Fred with its jaws. It pulled him out through the window and devoured him. Nobody showed anything even close an emotion.

"Well, at least we don't have to worry about protecting so many people now. But how are we going to get to our Zoids to try to kill this maniac?" Neil asked, "For all we know, next-"

"It doesn't matter, this button is supposed to launch people into their Zoids." Dennis announced, pointing to a button, which he then pressed. Everyone in the mansion was sent flying out of the mansion.

Somehow, the cockpits of the various Zoids had already opened and everyone landed in the cockpits of their Zoids. They recovered from the impact quickly, but they were surprised to find the large Komodo dragon approaching them.

The Salamander began to rise into the air, but the Komodo dragon's tail collided with one of the Salamander's wings and it crashed to the ground. Neil tried to make it fire on the Komodo dragon but an air bag deployed and began to suffocate him.

The Konig Wolf fired several shots from its sniper rifles and proceeded to fire most of its missiles. Explosions erupted around the Komodo dragon but it grabbed the Konig Wolf's torso with its jaws and began to crush it.

Louise was launched out of the Konig Wolf's cockpit when the Komodo dragon began to crush the torso. Fortunately for her, she landed in the cockpit of Fred's Bear Fighter.

The Battle Cougar flew above the Komodo dragon, firing at it while flying around it in circles. The Komodo dragon kicked the Battle Cougar and it slammed into several trees, causing one to break in half.

The Storm Tyrant began to fire its Charged Particle Cannon. The Komodo dragon leapt on the Storm Tyrant before it finished charging and attempted to tear into its with its teeth.

The Cannon Fort fired at the Komodo dragon and it was blasted backwards. The Komodo dragon charged at the Cannon Fort and knocked it over, sending it rolling across the ground.

The Bear Fighter fired the cannons on its back. The Komodo dragon was hit and didn't react. It began to approach the Bear Fighter but once it reached it, it simply kicked it aside.

The Liger Zero Phoenix flew towards the Komodo dragon, blasting it with every weapon it had. The Komodo dragon was sent flying back, but then it leapt on the Liger Zero Phoenix and pinned it to the ground.

"Everyone is being defeated, but there's no way _Command Wolves_ can lose to this thing!" Carl shouted. Two Command Wolves fired on the Komodo dragon but it wasn't harmed and knocked the Command Wolves to the ground with its tail.

"Now that my Sea Panther has been destroyed, you have forced me to use this Zoid that must be crap since it wasn't even in the Zoids TV series!" Ian shouted as he arrived, piloting a _Mad Thunder._

The Mad Thunder immediately fired everything it had at the Komodo dragon. The Komodo dragon was obliterated, although amazingly Ian's allies were unharmed. Suddenly, everything started to fade away…

Some random place in the desert-

The Hover Cargo, and everyone who had been transported with it and survived the events of the military base, was transported back to the desert. Unfortunately, their latest problem was that the Hover Cargo was trashed… again.

Ted disembarked from a Gairyuki, and stared at it strangely, "This doesn't make sense… the Geno Saurer evolved into a Gylvader and then that evolved into a Gairyuki?"

"These things happen. Anyway, the evolution of a Zoid being changed isn't the weirdest thing that's happened." Darren said, "We've haven't been transported to where we were before. I can see the town from here."

"So, what is going on?" Cheryl asked, "Have we been transported here because we've defeated that dragon? Somehow I don't see that happening, what with it killing itself and everything."

"Maybe this isn't over yet." James said, "Maybe the whole thing with transporting us to a military base was so that we would have to fight a dragon. If that's what was supposed to happen it worked very well."

"Things keep happening here, and that's probably a stupid thing." Colin said, "But next time something attacks us, we'll hopefully have some idea of… well, something… what is going on here anyway?"

Suddenly everything began to become distorted. Then the distortion stopped, and several members of the Warriors of Command, Phoenix Team and Tyrant Team had appeared. A Mad Thunder had appeared neat them.

"We were fighting these huge Komodo dragon things, but now we're here." Dennis said, "And somehow during all of this, Frank got injured. Maybe we should take him to a hospital or something."

"Well that is normally what happens when someone is injured, so obviously I'm shocked that you thought of it." Colin said, "But if we're going to get him to a hospital then…something has to happen…"

"I think what you're thinking of is the fact that in order to get to a hospital, you must first travel towards a hospital." John suggested, "Well anyway, I heard that now there's a Gun Blaster running around somewhere…"

"There probably is." James said, "But the most important thing right now is to find someone who can actually repair these carriers. Or at least take them out of the desert."

"Taking them out of the desert won't be easy… except that most teams have carriers… and there must be about five carriers in our town right now, since at least five teams didn't use their carriers." John said.

"So how exactly are we going to transport them?" Dennis asked, "There probably aren't enough people here to pilot all of the carriers, and I don't think anyone will believe the weird stuff that's happened."

"I've been thinking about that." Nick said, "I just thought, maybe, with all the people and things vanishing and appearing, maybe there's other dimensions merging an then leaving this one."

"I hate when someone says merging, it sounds very slightly like melding, which sounds like welding!" Dennis shouted, "And does that mean merging sounds like welding? I have no idea! Nobody has any idea! That's why I hate it!"


	8. Chapter 8

**This section is a crossover with "Headhunter", "Python" and partially with "Demonic toys", even though that part of the 'crossover' only invovles one toy robot. There's also mention of Death Ghidorah who appeared in one of the"Rebirth of Mothra" ** **movies**

Zoids – Dimension Crisis

"Since we've got back, nobody's really cared very much. We can't have been missing for as long as we thought, which in turn means… actually, to be completely honest, I'm guessing the fact nobody's cared very much is because we're the worst Zoid pilots on the planet." Dennis said.

"Maybe it's because they feel disappointed by the fact that we're the only teams in this city, meaning nobody else could start or join a team, meaning that they're worse than us." Ian suggested.

"I don't know what's going to happen now, but things should get better." Nick stated, "At least now that there's no sign of anything that could cause us harm, so maybe we have some chance of… I forgot what I was thinking of."

"Wall, now that we're back here, there isn't much chance of anything attacking us." James replied, "Basically, if an intelligent force was trying to kill us, it wouldn't have let us return to this town."

"But if this force controlling things is as stupid and insane as everyone else on this planet, then we must still be in danger." Lauren realised, "Maybe there's a reason why we reached this town."

"Maybe something very strange is going to happen." Zack suggested, "Or maybe the dimensional forces are just going to send Death Ghidorah to this place and have him destroy everything."

"I don't think that's very likely." Louise said, "We all know that if they sent some other people to attack this city, they would probably be sending something smaller than a huge dragon thing."

"Maybe they would, but we have some problems here." Colin said, "For one thing, we have absolutely no idea how much time has passed since we got here, and secondly, well…"

"Secondly, I think you're becoming insane from being too insane." Dennis said, "Wait, can being insane drive you more insane? That would explain why mental institutions usually leave people in padded rooms."

"Yes, because their insanity continues to drive them insane." Frank stated, "Speaking of hospitals, aren't I supposed to be taken to one at some point, or should I just collapse and die?"

"Well, idiots who have to have everything be scientifically accurate all the time would be happier if you fell to the ground and died, but from our perspective I guess we're meant to be saving you." Dennis said.

"Well, I have a huge Zoid that could possibly crush the hospital by landing on the roof. Maybe I should be the one to take Frank to hospital so that everyone else can discuss nothing." Nick suggested.

"Good idea. I wanted to discus pointless theories anyway." Dennis replied. Nick threw Frank and the Gildragon. Frank landed on one of the wings and was barely avoiding falling off. Nick climbed back into the cockpit.

The Gildragon lifted into the air and shots off at exceptionally high speeds. By some miracle, Frank was able to hold onto the wing of the Gildragon. Everyone watched in shock, wondering how Nick was able to not crash every five seconds.

"If I ever have to be taken anywhere by him, please shoot me, it will be faster and have the same result." James said, watching as the Gildragon narrowly avoided a tall sheep.

The hospital-

The Gildragon managed to land on the side of the hospital, somehow avoiding crushing the wall of the hospital. It smashed its head through the wall and Frank fell off the Gildragon's head onto the floor.

"The more I think about this, the more I think something's gone slightly wrong with our plans." Nick said, as the cockpit of the Gildragon opened. Several doctors and nurses ran towards Frank.

"Okay, this guy is bleeding badly, and there's a huge gash in his back. The edges aren't serrated and it looks like some kind of blade… maybe a cutlass, possibly used by an undead pirate. What happened?" A doctor asked.

"Well, I wasn't there at the time, and the people who were there at the time, aren't here now. I don't know what's happened. Actually, I was hoping you could tell me." Nick said.

"Well, it looks like a cutlass tore some of the flesh off his back. This could only have been caused by one thing. Obviously a rabid walrus is responsible for these injuries. We must find it immediately!" The doctor shouted.

"Well, there's really only one thing wrong with that." Nick replied, "The problem is that you're supposed to be a doctor, which means you're supposed to help sick or injured people, not begin searching for a walrus."

"Okay, that's a good suggestion, but I don't tell you how to do your job!" The doctor shouted, "The only solution to this problem is to find this walrus and kill it before it can harm anyone else!"

"Okay, but that guy who almost smashed the hospital to pieces has a point." Another doctor said, "See, there's an injured person right here and that should be our first concern."

"Well, in one way you have the right idea, but in another way helping him is pointless!" The first doctor said, "Because walrus-inflicted wounds can only ever heal when the walrus is killed!"

"I understand that, but… actually, no, no I don't understand that! I could even go as far as to say it makes no sense at all!" The second doctor shouted, "Anyway, we don't need you to hunt a walrus!"

"Okay, this one time I won't hunt a walrus. But next time, as with every other time anyone's come to this hospital, I will run out of here with a harpoon gun and kill all the walruses in sight!" The first doctor shouted.

"Okay, but I don't think that's going to help you… or anyone else, to be perfectly honest. In order to stop this injured person dying, we must first think like an injured person!" The second doctor shouted.

Nick watched in shock as every doctor in the building collapsed and began to act as if someone had just cut their back open with a cutlass. Nick grabbed Frank and threw him at a bed. Frank's head collided with a wall, but then he fell onto the bed.

"Well, at least he's now lying on the bed. And as we all know, people who are lying on beds normally make a full recovery by themselves, that's why when most people have headaches they don't have headaches the next morning." The first doctor said.

"Well, as long as you know you're all completely mental, I'm leaving now." Nick said, climbing into the cockpit of the Gildragon and flying away without closing the cockpit.

Elsewhere-

"I'm still surprised that Frank is as mental as he actually is." Zack said, "I fought him once, but I thought he was just pretending to be mental to make his opponents overconfident."

"Yes, well I was thinking of that, but it's because he realised he wasn't any good at it, so he decided to become insane and therefore subject everyone to seeing a real insane person." Dennis said.

"Okay, but that doesn't explain why he had to drive himself insane." Susan said, "Maybe everyone who died is really happy by now because they got away from him, ending the worst part of their lives."

"Well to be completely honest, I'm disappointed that I haven't escaped from him yet." Dennis said, "But if these strange events continue, maybe I will be killed soon, and someone will laugh at me."

"I don't think anyone would laugh at you." Susan said, "And I don't know why you would want someone to laugh if you just got killed, but if you continue being insane, maybe they will."

"I don't think it would be funny if Dennis died, regardless of how insane he may be." Zack said, "At any rate, we have to inform a lot of people about the dead people… well, not dead people in general, but-"

"I get the idea, but who would believe us when we tell them that basically everyone we know is dead?" Neil asked, "Okay, maybe there's a lot of people still alive, but I still think-"

"If this gets anymore insane, I don't know if there will ever be an end to it." Louise said, "We have to get away from this part of town, because it's obviously generating a lot of insanity."

"If Nick was here the insanity levels would be much higher." James reasoned, "But since he isn't here, maybe we should all run in different directions and when he gets back he won't know what's going on."

"Yes, but if we leave him he'll probably find us." Lauren said, "As far as we know, he knows where we live, even though he might have forgotten since we've been living in a Hover Cargo for so long."

"Yes, but maybe he's memorised who lives in every house in this town." James suggested, "From what we've seen so far, he's absent-minded enough in every other area that it's easily possible."

"I understand." Lauren said, "Well actually I don't, because that makes no sense. Wouldn't he memorise something that's actually important if he was going to focus on memorising something?"

"Maybe he's trying to memorise how to make a Gildragon fly normally without either crashing into things, or coming within two inches of crashing into everything." Dennis suggested.

"Maybe there's another possibility." Cheryl suggested, "But I guess we're probably not going to know even if there is for some time. Unless we accept the possibility that Nick is planning to take control of all the Shield Ligers in the world."

"This conversation is getting so insane that my brain will explode soon." James said, "If we don't leave now, things will continue to get worse… scratch that, I'm leaving now regardless of its effect on anything."

The Tyrant Team base-

"Frank may be insane, but I still hope he survived whatever it was that actually happened to him." Dennis said, "Now that we've returned to this place, it seems really empty."

"Maybe we should find some robots and use them to replace the dead and injured people." Susan suggested, "Frank's Battle Cougar is still here, and the King Baron must be somewhere…"

"Yes, but by the time we find it the ZBC may have lost all semblance of competence they had and begun sending Ultrasauruses to eat people and step on people." Dennis suggested.

"Actually, I'd be really surprised if that happened." Susan replied, "While the ZBC are obviously becoming more incompetent very rapidly, I don't think we will ever have a problem with Ultrasauruses."

"Okay, maybe not with Ultrasauruses, but you have to admit, it's only a matter of time before the ZBC decides to make some kind of stupid decision, and then the CBZ will take over." Dennis said.

"Even if the CBZ take over, I don't think it's going to matter." Susan explained, "The ZBC is only trying to get people to believe the CBZ are evil because it helps them to remain in control of things."

"Maybe there's something else happening here." Dennis suggested, "Before, there wasn't a CBZ and no insane things happened. So maybe the CBZ are responsible for the weird stuff that happened."

"Maybe the ZBC are responsible for it, and are trying to make people think the CBZ are responsible for it." Susan stated, "And maybe an organisation called the ZCB, also known as Zack's Crazy Books, are controlling this."

"Maybe they are, and maybe there's just stupidity rampant everywhere." Dennis said, but then he noticed a small robot walking along the floor, "That's strange, why do we have an eight-inch-tall robot?"

"I don't know. Maybe someone thought it would be funny to put it in this base while we were gone. Or maybe they began stealing things and what actually happened was that they dropped it." Susan replied.

"Maybe they dropped it intentionally." Dennis realised, "And I really can't understand how you're not sick of hearing me asking these questions all the time. But there's something weird about this robot."

"It could be because I've realised that everyone on this team is mental… wait, does that mean that technically I'm mental?" Susan asked, "And if I was mental, would I know I was mental?"

"Maybe you would know if… well, maybe…" Dennis tried to reason. But it turned out that he didn't have to worry about that, because the robot fired several laser beams at Susan and blasted her apart.

"Damn, I thought these things were over." Dennis said. Dennis kicked the robot and it slammed into a wall and broke into pieces. Dennis ran towards the door and opened, it, but then he fell back, shocked.

A large demon walked through the door… or at least tried to, but it hit its head on the top of the doorway. The demon threw a sword at Dennis and it conveniently managed to cut his head off.

The Sea Panther Team's Dragoon Nest-

"It would just be strange if I had to continue living in this carrier alone." Ian said, "After so long with the… er, weird things happening… and those people with Sea Panthers appearing… I just thought…"

"I think this is going to take a long time fro him to explain." Nick said, "But basically, since we have no carrier, we're staying here even though we have nothing here since it's all still inside the Hover Cargo."

"Okay, but how are we going to find out what really happened?" Cheryl asked, "For all we know, something else could appear and begin attacking us right now. There has to be some way of finding out why this is happening"

"Then we're going to have to go over everything that happened." Nick said, "But then again, most of the people involved in those events aren't here, so the chances of finding out everything are low."

"Yes, but we have to start somewhere." Ian said, "Well, it began when we were heading back from the tournament. Onboard the whale King, Robert had just set up about a million dominoes and they formed the shape of a Brachiosaurus…"

"Okay, I think we can probably assume that the dominoes had nothing to do with anything." Lauren said, "It's interesting that he set them up in the shape of a Brachiosaurus, but other than that…"

"I don't know about this." James replied, "Don't forget, this is Ian's house… er, carrier-type thing, so maybe there's some truth in his insane accusations. Or maybe we should just believe whatever he says."

"Well, it's not really the dominoes that are important." Ian said, "See, I thought I should go over everything, to ensure that we're not missing something. Because if we were, then…"

"No, it's obviously the dominoes." James said, "There's some kind of foreshadowing thing here… okay, I figured out what it is! The real reason it's ironic, is because a Brachiosaurus is controlling everything."

"I don't really think there's a Brachiosaurus controlling everything!" Ian shouted, "Well okay, to be completely honest, it's as good a guess as anything else, but only because-"

"We're onto something here." Cheryl agreed, "If there's a Brachiosaurus controlling everything, though, then there must be some kind of motive involved, and that motive could be anything."

"Wait, if there's foreshadowing here, then the dominoes must have some kind of relevance to this situation!" Nick shouted, "That seems to make sense, so maybe someone broke the dominoes."

"And because the dominoes are broken, the Brachiosaurus is mad." Lauren realised, "So because of that, it has mastered the ability to send people through different dimensions to-"

"Doesn't this seem at least slightly ludicrous to any of you?" Ian demanded, "Don't you realise that essentially, there isn't much reason for a Brachiosaurus to have dominoes?"

"Well yes, but when you really think about it, everyone gets bored sometimes." James said, "Anyway, we must find a way to convince this Brachiosaurus to stop throwing dominoes at everyone."

"But if the dominoes are broken, why would it be throwing them at everyone?" Ian asked, "Anyway, I don't think there is a Brachiosaurus controlling things here. There must be something else."

"If there's something else happening, we have to find out about it immediately." James replied, "If it's a threat to everyone, we must find out exactly what is happening."

"I don't know what I would expect to happen now, but I guess our only chance of finding out what is causing this is to go on from that point where some crazy person was setting up dominoes." Lauren suggested.

"Maybe we should… okay, suddenly we found that none of the TV sets would work, which I guess isn't that strange, since… well, I have no idea, but compared to everything else it wasn't that strange." Ian tried to explain.

"So if the TV sets didn't work, then nobody could watch TV, which leads to more people being bored." Nick said, "So if this is true, then maybe these attacks are caused by immense boredom."

"But if they were caused by immense boredom, most of the planet would be dead by now." James pointed out, "So it can't be that. It has to be caused by some other event that happened close to that time."

"But what else happened close to that time?" Cheryl asked, "I remember we were trying to reach this town, but for some reason we were taking about a million hours to reach it."

"And we were trying to build a Matrix Dragon." Nick said, "We were trying to get it completely operational so that we could use a Matrix Dragon against anyone who stood in our way."

"And somehow, during all of this, we ended up at some weird power plant place, which was only run by one person, I think." James stated, "But Nick said he thought the building was distorted or something."

"The building appeared to be distorted from where I was." Nick replied, "I don't know why that was, because nothing around that place was remotely distorted, so it can't have been because of the window."

"So, maybe that power plant is responsible for things being as they are now." Lauren suggested, "Although, when we went there it got badly damaged and things continued to be as weird as they had been before that."

"So maybe there's some connection between the power plant and the weird events have that have been happening, but even if there is, the power plant isn't connected centrally." Ian realised.

"But what connection could it have if it wasn't causing these events?" James asked, "And if it was connected to something causing the attacks, then what was causing the attacks?"

A truck began to drive by. Suddenly, a giant python attacked it and began to crush it. The driver threw the door open and began to run, but the python sprayed acid over him, melting him.

"Okay, this isn't exactly normal… it has to be another of those things that keep getting transported to wherever we are somehow." Ian said, "But why did it take so long to appear?"

"We don't normally have to wait for several hours for something else to appear. Maybe whatever is causing this is losing its power." James suggested, "Although, I guess we still have to kill that thing."

Outside Sea Panther Team's Dragoon Nest-

The Mad Thunder and the various Crusade Team Zoids deployed from the Dragoon Nest. The Dragoon Nest suddenly charged by itself and grabbed the giant python with its pincers.

The python launched acid over the dragoon nest. Despite the fact that its armour was too thick to sustain much damage, the Dragoon Nest released the giant python and stumbled backwards.

"That's the first time I've seen a carrier lose a fight… or fight at all, for that matter. Why are carriers so rubbish at actually fighting anything?" Nick asked, while waiting for something to happen.

"Well to be completely honest, I don't know why they're so rubbish at fighting, but maybe it's because that's not really their purpose." Ian said, firing his Mad Thunder's cannons at the giant python.

The Mad Thunder began to fire various other weapons, and explosions engulfed the python, but for some reason it wasn't harmed and began to approach the Mad Thunder.

The Slash Liger's blades extended and it shot forced, cutting across the side of the giant python/ But somehow, the python was immediately healed. The Slash Liger stood unmoving, because James was confused by what had just happened.

"Jet Falcon, launch!" James called. The Jet Falcon was launched from the Dragoon Nest and proceeded to fly around erratically, possibly because of the death of its pilot. It crashed into a pebble.

"I don't think there's any chance of fusing with it." James said, but immediately, the Jet Falcon flew into the air and fired on the giant python repeatedly, somehow failing to harm it completely.

The Jet Falcon flew towards the Slash Liger and its head collided with the Liger's back. The Jet Falcon and Slash Liger collapsed, but they then merged into the Slash Liger Falcon.

The Slash Liger Falcon charged at the giant python and attempted to cut through it again. But again, it was somehow healed when the Slash Liger's blades cut through it, and was left completely unharmed.

The Slash Liger Falcon charged at the python again, but this time the python began to crush it. In the cockpit, James had begun watching a TV programme that had just aired for the first time…

"James, I think you should actually be concentrating on the battle." Nick suggested. The Gildragon flew overhead, but it didn't fire because it would almost certainly have hit the Slash Liger.

"I would shoot at the python and James, but although I could cause harm to James, I could also harm the Jet Falcon, and to respect the death of its pilot, maybe we shouldn't fire." Cheryl suggested.

"Maybe, but since the Gairyuki hasn't fought anything since it appeared, I can shoot at that python without any chance of hitting James, since Zoids are somehow able to do anything the first time they fight something." Ted explained.

The Gairyuki fired its Charged Particle Gun at the python. The python was hit and actually harmed, causing it to release the Slash Liger Falcon. It vanished before anyone else could attack it.

The Phoenix Team's base-

"Despite the fact that you're completely insane, I've realised that it's actually a good idea not to prevent you from entering our base." Zack said. A door opened and Carl and Karl walked into the room.

"I don't know why you forced us to stay outside, there can be weird things outside, and weird things can make people slightly disturbed. But since we were immensely disturbed, there's no problem." Carl replied.

"I still don't understand why your base has security." Karl stated, "Most people wouldn't want to steal things from your base. In order to want to steal from your base, they would have to be psychotic."

"Yes, but you would also have to be psychotic if you were an undead pirate and chased people. But we've already seen that today… or at least, heard of it." Zack pointed out.

"I don't know why these things keep happening, but if this continues, we'll definitely have more strange attacks, and possibly attacks on this town." Louise stated, "That's why we have to find out why this is happening."

"Maybe it's happening as a result of the collective insanity of everyone on this planet." Neil suggested, "But it's also possible that the reason this is happening, is because it was always going to happen."

"No, it has to be because of insanity. But not collective insanity. Maybe someone's been planning this for some time and despite knowing they were insane, they went ahead with it anyway." Carl suggested.

"Maybe the person planning this is getting more insane by the minute." Neil suggested, "Maybe that's why weirder things keep happening every time there's another attack."

"I think it has to be collective insanity." Karl replied, "To be honest, does anyone really think the insanity of everyone here can continue to exist normally without consequences?"

"Well I thought it would have consequences, but not necessarily involving the destruction of everything related to something, or weird creatures invading the planet." Louise stated.

"Maybe, but for all we know, these creatures have already been here for some time, and there's some kind of secret plan involving things." Zack said, "I don't know what kind of things, but I'm sure things are involved."

"Well there have to be some kind of things involved!" Neil shouted, "But we have to figure out what's actually happening, so that we can prevent this and hopefully prevent an army of ducks from attacking."

"If an army of ducks attack, things will be getting very weird." Louise said, "Possibly even weirder than anything that's attacked us so far. But since we haven't found the solution yet, there must be another attack coming."

"Maybe whatever caused things to attack us and caused the weird things to happen has finally ended by itself." Zack suggested, "It's possible that after several hours, it couldn't continue sending things to attack us."

"Maybe whoever is controlling these events and sending things to attack us could attack us again, but they decided to see our reactions to various things that happened, and now they're just waiting." Neil suggested.

"They could be waiting." Carl agreed, "But it's also possible that there's something else happening somewhere, and we haven't been attacked yet because it's inconvenient, and because we ran out of toast thirty minutes ago... which is actually the time we left our base."

"I still think maybe they're waiting." Karl said, "Various things attacked different people at the same time, so there's no reason for there to only be one threat now, unless there is a reason."

"That is true." Zack said, "So now that we know they're waiting, we have to… wait, did you come to our base because you thought we had toast? We've never had any toast in this base, at any time."

"Well, if there's no toast, we should probably leave." Carl said, "Well, after we find out what's actually happening anyway. Now that I think of it, this situation could be important."

Suddenly, the giant python broke through the floor. It tried to eat the various people in the room, but they were already running. When it tried to chase them, Zack slammed a door in its face.

Outside-

The Liger Zero began to approach the python, which had by now left the Phoenix Team's base. The Liger Zero fired on it, but surprisingly, it was unaffected by the Liger Zero's shots.

"I don't know what's going on with this thing, but it seems impervious to any damage." Zack announced. The giant python slammed its tail into the Liger Zero and knocked it to the ground.

The Command Wolves fired on the python. Not surprisingly, their shots had no effect on it, and it grabbed Carl's Command Wolf with its jaws and attempted to crush it. Instead of actually crushing it, the python's fangs broke through the Zoid's armour.

Karl realised his help was needed. The Command Wolf leapt into the air, still firing on the python. The python knocked the Command Wolf aside with its tail and threw the first Command Wolf into a wall of the Phoenix Team's base.

The Salamander flew above the python and launched several missiles at it. The python was struck repeatedly and explosions engulfed it. Somehow, it remained mostly unharmed.

The Bear Fighter fired the cannons on its back repeatedly. The python was hit several times, but again, it was mostly unaffected. It sprayed acid at the Salamander, which flew out of the acid's path.

The Bear Fighter rose onto its rear legs and charged at the python. The python used its tail to knock the Bear Fighter away, while the Fire Phoenix flew towards the area, firing on the python.

"Okay, somehow I get the idea nothing's going to work on him. Should we at least try to run now?" Carl asked.

"Maybe something will happen. At any rate, we should keep fighting to see if it can be defeated." Karl suggested.

"I think something is happening." Neil announced, as the Fire Phoenix began to fuse with the Liger Zero.

"Finally, now people will want to avoid buying Liger Zero Phoenix models!" Zack shouted, as the Liger Zero Phoenix was engulfed by flames and shot forward, tearing through the python and incinerating it.

Suddenly, the Mad Thunder and the Zoids from the Crusade Team began to arrive at the area. The Phoenix Team pilots were slightly annoyed because the Crusade Team hadn't arrived to fight the python.

"We were chasing some kind of huge python thing." Nick reported, "If you've seen it, we really need to know where it went or we won't be able to prevent it from eating people."

Phoenix Team base-

"This is the hole where it broke through the ground." Zack reported, "Fortunately, we were able to kill it before it could slaughter everyone within a million-mile radius. Well, we hope its dead anyway."

"If it isn't dead, we'll have to find out how it cloned itself." Carl said, "Because obviously, since it was completely incinerated, the only way it could have lived is if it had cloned itself."

"Well, at least if it cloned itself, we don't have to worry about things." Karl said, "Well actually, to be honest, we would have to worry about things, but that's only if we actually care about things."

"Somehow, I highly doubt that it can clone itself." Nick replied, "Anyway, if it's dead, then we might have a problem… the problem being, that thing was far too easily killed."

"That's true, normally when something attacks us it takes actual effort to kill it." Neil agreed, "That thing was immune to a lot of firepower, but the Liger Zero Phoenix killed it very easily."

"It also hasn't killed anyone from any of our teams, as far as we know." Lauren said, "Most of these threats to us have been able to at least kill someone, so this has to have been a distraction."

"Maybe it was a distraction." Zack agreed "But that means that these weird events are definitely being controlled by someone. Either that, or a lot of very convenient things have been happening."

"Either way, something very strange is happening and we should probably at least try to find out what it is." Louise suggested, "Or we could just sit here until something that can kill us appears."

"Almost everyone is here." Ian said, "I tried to contact the Tyrant Team, but apparently they were dead. Or at least, that's what they said in a message they left on the recording device."

"Okay, so now we have to find out what's going to happen in a thousand years, or when we're sent into space." James said, "Actually it surprises me that nothing from space has tried to kill us."

"It is weird." Lauren agreed, "Out of everything in the universe… well, in various versions of the universe, everything that attacked us has been from Earth, but they came from different dimensions."

"Maybe something from space will attempt to kill us soon." Nick suggested, "But that could happen at any time. We need to contact the Decalto Team so that we can find out if they're still alive."

"At least if they're not still alive, we still have some chance of remaining alive." Zack said, "But if they're still alive, we could be attacked when we try to reach their base, and if we don't go to their base it will be harder to think of a plan that works."

The Decalto Team's base-

"Nothing has happened since we returned to this place." John said, "But we still don't know if there's any chance of… well, finding out why any of this happened. It still seems weird."

"I don't think anyone would believe us if we told them how most of the dead people died." Darren stated, "Except for the people killed by anyone with a Zoid, even though people with Zoids don't usually kill people."

"Yes, but they don't have to get involved in stupid, pointless 'Zoid battles' that don't mean anything to anyone." John replied, "Maybe after this we should continue with every Zoid pilot's dream of getting a real job."

"That's a good idea, but before we can worry about that we have to find out exactly why there's been something strange happening… or various weird things happening." Colin said.

"So far there's no sign of anything trying to kill us." Claire explained, "But there could be something trying to kill us at any moment now, so we should probably be trying to find a way to escape from this place."

"I don't think we should be trying to escape from here, considering that it's our base and everything." Colin stated, "Maybe we should try to find out if they've invented flying bicycles yet."

"I don't think anyone ever will invent them." John replied, "But at any rate, during the last several times we were attacked by something our Zoids have probably sustained some damage."

"It doesn't matter, because I've heard that it you throw cakes at a Zoid for sixty minutes it will eventually heal by turning the cake matter into new parts of itself." Colin announced.

"No, that's just an urban legend, just like that urban legend about someone called Bit Cloud who hides in peoples cupboards or under the bed at night and when they least expect it he shouts out Liger Zero armour conversion mode names." Claire explained.

"I always thought that was a true story." Darren admitted, "But now that we know that it isn't, or isn't supposed to be, I guess there's no reason to lock the doors of the base at night."

"We definitely need to lock the doors at night!" Colin shouted, "What if someone tries to come into this place and steal everything, or if there's another invasion from an alternate reality?"

"Well, I don't see that happening, but I guess it's possible." Darren replied, "Although if there is another attack from an alternate reality won't something try to break the doors down anyway?"

"Something probably will, but then things will continue to become much worse." Claire said, "Well, things will be as bad as it's possible for them to be, because we would be dead."

"But at least if we die while we're not expecting an attack, then nobody could have defeated us when we were actually trying to stay alive, so they would still be useless." John added.

"But would that really matter, if we were dead?" Darren asked, "If we get killed by one of these things, then they will be closer to achieving whatever it is they're trying to achieve."

"Although, we still don't know why these things are trying to kill us." John said, "If there's a coherent plan it has to be a very weird plan, because most of the things we've seen so far were doomed to failure anyway."

"Yes, but that's because most of the things that attacked us so far just weren't capable of defeating us." Darren replied, "I don't think one Zeek Dober could ever defeat us, unless something really stupid happened."

"Yes, but for all we know, there's something else happening here." Claire said, "I have noticed that this conversation is going round in circles, but what the heck… anyway, we must find a solution."

"Yes, but where are we going to find a solution?" Colin asked, "It isn't a physical object, so we're not going to find it in a… a place where physical objects can be found, but anyway…"

"I don't see the problem with thinking that there's one event that started all of this, and that maybe, that one effect was an accidental thing." John suggested, "But I still don't know what it is."

"Then we'll have to find out what it is, but honestly, it could have been anything, maybe it was even caused by that time when a Dark Spiner suddenly landed on my Blade Liger." Colin suggested.

"That happened when weird things were already happening." Claire pointed out, "Maybe it has some relevance to things, but maybe it's just a random thing that happened."

Suddenly, the door flew open. It slammed into a wall and fell to the ground. Then a demon walked into the base. The Decalto Team stared at him for three seconds, and then returned to trying to find a solution to the attacks from weird creatures.

"There's a demon in our base right now. Things are definitely getting worse." John said, "The only chance to end this insanity, is to figure out what happened right now. Maybe it was…"

"Maybe it was caused by the Hover Cargo colliding with whatever it was that it collided with, knocking some of the insanity out of the people in the Hover Cargo." Claire suggested.

"That's possible, because the insanity could have manifested as these things and that means that eventually, at some point, something could happen that makes us regret being here." John said.

"Okay, I think I've come up with a weird theory about this." Colin announced, "I'll return soon, when I find out if what I'm suspecting is possible, really is possible." Colin walked out of the room.

"Okay, while he's planning something, should we stay here waiting for something to happen, even though there's a demon in the room, or should we try to escape from this place?" John asked.

"We could try to escape from this place, but we live he so maybe for now we should just get out of this room." Claire suggested. Claire and John followed Colin out of the room, while Darren remained standing where he was.

"But if nobody stays in this room, how will Colin know where to come back to?" Darren asked. Suddenly the demon swung a large blade towards him. Fortunately the blade missed and cut into the floor.

Darren turned to the demon, who was trying to pull his blade out of the floor. Darren decided to run into the other room. When he reached that room, he pressed a button that made a large metal door drop into place.

Decalto Team base, later-

"Okay, there's something getting closer to our base." John said, "Except that this device is really slow, so whatever's approaching the base could already be here. Hopefully it isn't a hovering explosive."

"Generally speaking, I haven't seen many hovering explosives." Claire replied, "Although for once there could be one. Well if people from other realities could attack us-"

"I still have no idea of what's going to happen next." Colin announced, "Well, more specifically, I have no idea of what caused this to happen to begin with. Maybe we should stop trying to find out."

"We could, except that then we'd be no closer to finding out." Darren said, "Anyway, is there any way to find out who's actually approaching the base, now that everything's gone mental?"

"Well, if everything's gone mental, there's not much chance of finding out anything about anything." Colin explained, "However, at some point we should be able to find out why…"

Suddenly a Slash Liger, Snipe Liger and Gojulas Giga ran into the base, causing part of one wall to collapse. The Decalto Team were obviously shocked by this and several members of the Crusade Team began to disembark from the Zoids.

"We were going to arrive with more people, but most people decided that we shouldn't send a large group of people in case everyone dies." Nick informed the Decalto Team.

"So we decided to send a smaller group of people, increasing the chances of everyone getting killed." Lauren explained, "And then those who aren't here would have to find out what happened."

"And when they tried to investigate, the thing that killed us would kill them, presumably ending any hope of ending this madness." James added, "So it's obvious that this is the best plan we've ever had."

"The really demented thing is that that's probably true." Darren agreed, "I don't remember you having any better plans than this. By the way, we saw some crazed demon thing."

"We fought a python, but we thought there must be something else, since the python was so easy to defeat, which is ironic really, because that python wasn't easy to defeat." Cheryl tried to explain.

"Okay, well I don't think this demon will be hard to kill because when he tried to kill me, his sword got stuck and now he can't remove it from where it is, so he's probably doomed." Darren replied.

"Well, he is if he hasn't removed it by now." Colin added, "But it was some time since we left him in that room, so maybe he has managed to free his sword from the floor."

"Although, he hasn't tried to kill us again yet." Claire reasoned, "So therefore we can only assume that his sword is still stuck in the floor. Maybe he shouldn't have swung it so hard."

"If this demon is still somewhere in the base, then we still have to defeat him somehow." Colin explained, "Unless he is defeated, we'll probably be stuck here forever."

Everyone was severely shaken by something and heard a loud crashing noise. Darren ran to a window, where he saw the demon approaching again, although the demon was now considerably larger.

"The demon has freed himself by making himself become much larger than he was before." Darren announced, "I guess he made himself grow to that size so that his sword would be larger and wouldn't be stuck to the floor."

"Well, either we have to defeat him now, or stupid things will continue to happen." James replied, "Then again, stupid thing will happen even if we defeat him. But we still have to defeat him anyway."

Outside Decalto Team's base-

"I still don't know why he grew to this size. I can't understand why he wouldn't have ended up pulling his blade out of the ground anyway." James reasoned, "Growing to this size was just stupid."

"Yes, but don't forget, there's always the possibility that he grew to this size so that he could destroy our Zoids instead of just being blown away or stepped on." Darren tried to explain.

"Yes, that probably is a good reason for him to use that ability, but why would he want to?" Cheryl asked, "During this time he could probably have followed you into the other room and killed you."

"Yes, but that would have required sanity, and I think we're very quickly finding out that everything seems to be insane, even demons." James replied, "So anyway, we have to kill him."

"Maybe we have to kill him, but at the same time, maybe killing him will just result in further stupidity." Nick said, but as he said that, he fired on the demon repeatedly, causing several explosions.

The demon swung his sword horizontally, and this somehow caused several fireballs to fly towards the Gildragon, Decalto Dragon and Gunguyarados. They were almost knocked out of the air.

The demon took this opportunity to cut into the Gildragon and Gunguyarados with his blade, cutting through their armour easily and causing them to collapse. The armour that had been cut through was also partially melted.

"Okay, maybe this isn't going to work very well." Darren suggested. John fired every weapon on the Decalto Dragon at the demon. Once again, the firepower caused many explosions but the demon remained mostly unharmed.

The demon again used his sword to launch fireballs at the Decalto Dragon. This time it was knocked to the ground, critically damaged. The demon kicked the Decalto Dragon and sent it flying backwards.

The Slash Liger leapt into the air, extending its blades, while the demon attempted to impale it. The demon cut partially through the Slash Liger's armour, but in the process his arm was cut off.

The Snipe Liger fired on the demon and caused him no harm. However, many shots struck the dismembered arm and caused it to release the sword. The demon grabbed the sword with his remaining hand.

Before he could use it, the Blade Liger's blades extended and it leapt into the air, cutting the demon's head off. The demon's body unexpectedly caught on fire and burned into nothing.

Elsewhere, the next day-

"Now that something could possibly have happened, we have to move on and try to find out what's actually causing these attacks." Carl said, "Although, after we killed that python, I don't think there were other attacks that night."

"Fortunately, there weren't any." Karl agreed, "But now we have to find out why people keep surviving. Well, it's not a bad thing for people to survive, but I still think…"

"By the time you've finished that thought there will already have been another attack, at the rate this is going." Ian pointed out, "We have to find what's sending these things to attack us."

"Well, it's possible that they're being caused by rabbits from another dimension." Carl suggested, "Because they're from another dimension, they have to invade this dimension."

"That logic makes no sense." Karl said, "We live in this dimension, but we're not trying to invade any other dimensions. I don't know what's going to happen next, but it could be anything."

"We know it could be anything, that's why we have to find out what it is so that we can at least prepare for something… unless there's actually no pattern involved here. But if that happened…" Carl began.

"Obviously you're no better at finishing sentences than I am… which in itself makes no sense because we haven't had difficulty with finishing sentences before." Karl pointed out.

"Maybe we should rejoin the ZBC. They're constantly trying to get people to help them with their crazy plans." Carl suggested, "Therefore, they need people who have difficulty finishing sentences."

"But in a normal situation, we don't have difficulty finishing sentences!" Karl shouted, "We've been subjected to a lot of stupidity, but that doesn't technically make us stupid."

"Unless stupidity is contagious, as evidenced by various people who forgot what year it was." Ian suggested, "They made everyone else forget the year."

"Well, we've been standing here for hours." Zack explained, "And we still don't have any idea why there's crazy creatures and crazy people trying to kill us all the time. It makes no sense."

"I don't think a python would need motivation." Louise pointed out, "Most pythons I've seen don't have motivation for killing things, except that they need food… well maybe that is motivation."

"It could be, but its strange how many people and things have tried to kill us since those first for people with weird tiger-based Zoids attacked us in the desert for no obvious reason."

"That's right." Ian realised, "Until they attacked us, nothing besides the usual stupidity was happening. They also had a strange device. I've never seen anything like it before and I think it was just left there."

"And for a long time it was impossible to leave the desert, but things like rivers, islands and things appeared in the desert." Zack said, "Damaging that machine must have caused these events to happen, and the energy from the machine is spreading outwards."


	9. Chapter 9

**This section is a crossover with "Miner's Masacre" A K A "Curse of the Forty-Niner".**

Zoids – Dimension Crisis

The Crusade Team's Hover Cargo, which ad somehow been completely repaired overnight, was now transporting the Crusade Team and people from many other teams into the desert. Attached to the Hover Cargo was a large platform that was transporting the Phoenix Team's Whale King.

Inside Hover Cargo-

"I don't know what's supposed to be happening here, but going back to the desert for no obvious reason is very stupid." Colin said, "Now we probably won't escape this time."

"It's not as stupid as you'd think." Ian said, "Well, the main reason for returning to this place, is because there's some device somewhere in the desert that's supposed to be causing all of this."

"Well generally speaking, if something's capable of causing all the destruction we've seen so far, we really shouldn't be heading towards it." Claire reasoned, "Actually, running from it would be a much better idea."

"Then maybe we should consider running from it instead of going towards it." Nick suggested, "This Hover Cargo is exceptionally slow, and by the time we reach the device… I don't really know, but maybe something will have happened."

"Maybe the amount of strange energy… well, the energy that's causing things and people from other realities to attack us, has increased, or will have increased by the time we're there." Lauren suggested.

"But then more people will be in danger of being slaughtered." James replied, "So, even though we don't care about these people even remotely, we must sacrifice our own lives to save them."

"Some people are heroic, but obviously you're just an idiot." Ted stated, "I don't know why you joined this team. Even if you had tried to join one of the other teams you wouldn't be able to."

"Maybe they would reject him, but Jake is, well, was insane, even more insane than everyone else." Nick reminded everyone, "Actually, I don't think this team would have existed at all if he wasn't."

"That's because this is possibly the worst team ever." Cheryl pointed out, "It's true that everyone here is insane and crazy… but those kinds of things don't always make people good Zoid pilots."

"I think we may have to rebuild many teams when this ends." Ian suggested, "Well, out of seven teams, none of them escaped intact. So maybe, if we can find this device, then after we prevent all the weird reality-distortion-related stuff, we can…"

"Yes, we get the idea, we can rebuild some teams but there will still be many, many teams that don't exist anymore." Nick said, "Well, the Artillery Team and Tyrant Team are dead, anyway."

"We'll have to avoid any other teams being killed then." Ian said, "And the Tyrant Team aren't actually dead. Frank survived, that's why he's in hospital right now. Hopefully he'll eventually recover."

"Yes, but as we know, many of the doctors there are mental." Nick said, "Although to be honest, they're probably not going to try to kill him. That would be a really stupid idea, even by their standards."

"Normally doctors don't try to kill people." Louise added, "So if these doctors have any intelligence, then Frank won't be killed. However, if they're morons, then he could be."

"Then he could be a moron?" Colin asked, "I thought we should have more respect to someone who's the last surviving members of… a team… that… nobody cares about… okay, maybe not."

"I meant he could be killed by the doctors." Louise replied, "Although, to be honest, if they're that stupid they probably won't be very successful at killing someone. Maybe he'll be safe."

"Maybe he will be safe, but it's also possible that he'll fall off wherever he is and fall several thousand feet and bounce off a trampoline and crash into a wall." Nick suggested.

"Why would a hospital be several thousand feet tall?" Lauren asked, "It's pointless if there's something that forces people to… actually, no that I think of it, there's no reason for a hospital to be several thousand feet tall."

"Although, if it was near the edge of a really high cliff, then he could fall out of a window. Then he would fall several thousand feet and bounce off a trampoline." Nick suggested.

"But that would be pointless." Zack replied, "Anyway, trampolines a partially metal and I don't know why the trampoline wouldn't sink, and even if it didn't there would be water below it."

"I still don't think a cliff would be several thousand feet tall, or that someone would put a hospital at the edge of a cliff if some people could fall out of it and kill themselves." Lauren added.

"That's true, but maybe there wasn't a cliff and then over thousands of years the land got eroded away and eventually someone's going to fall off the cliff because there's a cliff there now." James realised.

"But then the hospital could fall off the cliff if the erosion continued, and there must be someone who has the intelligence to not fall off a cliff when they know that falling off a cliff will cause their death." Colin said.

"Not many people on this planet have intelligence of any kind." James reminded everyone, "Although, fortunately for us, we have enough intelligence to remember what year it is."

"Well, most of the time we have enough intelligence to remember what year it is." Cheryl agreed, "However, sometimes we forget. And sometimes we forget when a year passes."

"And sometimes we forget when several years pass." Colin agreed, "See, I don't remember how many years have passed. Maybe we need some kind of system to figure out what year it is."

"Maybe we should have some kind of system." Lauren agreed, "But anyway, I heard that there was gold buried here at some point. Maybe there's never been gold buried here."

"Maybe there was gold here at one point and everyone forgot that it even existed." Colin suggested, "So as a result, everyone began mining plutonium, but they couldn't find any."

"Aren't we supposed to be trying to find something that's… supposed to be… I forgot, wait… some kind of machine? Isn't that what we're supposed to be trying to find?"

"Well basically we have two choices here. We could try to find this machine and possibly save everyone on this planet, or we could attempt to find some gold that's useless to everyone." Lauren explained.

"Well, the gold would be useless, but if we get close enough to the machine it could kill us. I suggest that we try to find the gold, even though it will be no use to us anyway." James said.

"Although the whole point we came out here was to find the machine, maybe we should be trying to find something else." Nick suggested, "Finding a machine out here will be exceptionally difficult."

"Yes, because it's so hard to find a machine on this planet." Zack said sarcastically, "But then again, even if we save everyone we'll probably die, so we won't know if we saved everyone."

"But I don't see why gold would be any use to us." Colin said, "Unless we throw it at the people who aren't trying to find the machine, them being, well, everyone but us, except for dead people."

"I don't know why you would want to throw gold at people. Since they don't know that they're going to die, they'll probably steal it and run." Cheryl stated, "But if they did know, they'd probably still steal it and run."

"So basically, if we throw gold at someone, they'll steal it and run." Colin summarised, "So the only reason we should ever throw gold at someone is… well, there isn't one."

"Exactly. So now our only chance to throw gold at someone, is if we know we're going to hit them. Then they will want compensation for being injured and they'll get the gold anyway." James suggested.

"Yes, but if we don't throw it at people, we won't have to waste the gold by throwing it at people." Nick explained, "Then we can use it to buy anvils and drop them on people."

"Wouldn't dropping anvils on people cause them to get killed?" James asked, "I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why would dropping an anvil on someone kill them? This planet is crazy." Nick said.

"Well basically, dropping something really heavy on someone usually kills them." James replied.

"So people can get shot at by Zoids, which somehow never hit the cockpit of the other Zoids, ever, yet dropping an anvil on someone can be fatal?" Nick asked, "Maybe it won't hit them, since apparently people can't get hit."

"Anyway, how would you know if dropping an anvil on someone is fatal?" Zack asked, "Have you been climbing onto the top of building and dropping anvils on the people below?"

"Most of the time, I don't bother dropping anvils on people because it could make them mental… well, even more mental than they already were, which is a terrible idea." James replied.

"Well, since there's no chance of finding this machine, and since the machine just happens to be where the gold is, it's obvious that we have to focus on finding the gold." Lauren explained.

"Yes, but if the gold is near that machine, then maybe the machine made it appear." James suggested, "And if that happened, maybe the gold will come to life and chase people."

Somewhere in the desert-

"Well, there's obviously nothing here. Obviously the reports were mistaken. Maybe we'll never find that device now. Anyway, we should go home before something else happens." James suggested.

"Then what exactly is that thing?" Lauren asked, pointing to the device that had been dragged along the ground by the Diablo Tiger, which was lying on its side, damaged but apparently still functioning.

"I have an idea. If it's damaged, then we're already most of the way to completing this… weird stuff… well, we're halfway to completing whatever we're supposed to be finishing… someone understands this, right?" Neil asked.

"I think I get the general idea of what you're suggesting." Lauren stated, "However, that could be extremely dangerous. For all we know, we could be vaporised if we get closer to it."

"It is leaking some new kind of energy that can allow things to cross between realities." Ted stated, "That in itself makes it dangerous. This has to be stopped immediately."

"Well anyway, we can't discuss this for hours on end. Don't forget, we're supposed to be finding gold." Ian said, pressing a button. One of the Hover Cargo's turrets blasted the device, obliterating it.

"Ian, that was the stupidest thing I've seen so far!" Lauren shouted, "We had no idea what would have happened when you blew up the device… you could have slaughtered everyone!"

"Anyway, destroying the device has barely changed anything." Ted informed everyone, "Although with nothing to generate the energy that can merge the dimensions, these attacks by weird creatures are over."

"I knew I would accomplish something decent!" Ian shouted, "Now that the device has been smashed, there's no chance of anything crossing dimensions, so I've saved everyone!"

"If there's no chance of anything crossing dimensions, doesn't that mean anything that crossed to this dimension is now stuck here?" Lauren asked, "And doesn't that mean we have to be certain…"

"It doesn't really matter." Darren pointed out, "We can still track the energy and be certain that anything following us is basically doomed… well okay, the doomed part was a lie, but…"

"Right, we can use these weird devices that we somehow invented overnight to monitor the energy field and how it's been since we killed that python, so we'll know if anything else appeared." Nick agreed.

"Apparently something else came through this dimension warp, but it could have been that demon we killed at some point." John suggested, "Anyway, aside from that nothing came through that didn't travel back through."

"That's strange… if there were creatures that travelled through the dimension warp and they went back through it, you'd think we'd have run into some of them and then been unable to find them." Colin said.

"Anyway, if that demon came through the dimension warp after the python came through it, then there's really no chance of there being any threat. Now that this is over, maybe we can find the gold." Nick suggested.

The desert, several hours later-

Several people were trying to find gold. Unfortunately, they hadn't realised that the gold from the mine had already been dug up, and in fact they needed to enter _another_ mine.

"Even though the device has been destroyed, there are still people here." Ted stated, "So obviously nobody has the intelligence to get out of the desert where a weird dimension warp just was."

"Is there such a thing as a regular dimension warp, if that dimension warp was weird?" Lauren asked, "Then again, is there really such a thing as gold in that mine? Nobody's left it."

"Maybe that's because there's only gold in the other mine… and to make things worse, there's actually only two mines around here, so it's really stupid that nobody investigated the other one." Ted explained.

"And somehow, apart from us, everyone is still crazy enough to keep searching through a mine when they've been there for hours and not even come close to finding gold." John replied.

"Wait… how can you tell if anyone's come close to finding gold?" Lauren asked, "Unless you can see through the ground, then you wouldn't have any real way of knowing if someone found gold."

"Yes, but nobody's tried to leave that place, and there's been no enthusiastic… well, there hasn't been anything enthusiastic. It doesn't seem like anyone succeeded in finding gold." John explained

Inside mine-

"After everything that's happened, fifteen people have ended up here." Darren announced, "Well, I guess everyone else is dead, except for Frank… twenty-two people died."

"For all we know, several others, not including Frank, managed to live somehow." Colin stated, "Well, not everyone who was attacked by something died, according to certain people…"

"Yes, but are those people believable?" James asked, "Several of them are on my team, but it doesn't make me stupid enough to continue believing them… or does it? Maybe it does."

"So basically, you have no idea whether you believe several people from your own team?" Darren asked, "Well, you're near them almost every waking moment… why would they be honest with you?"

"That is a good question." James agreed, "I really don't understand why they haven't thought of loading an ejector seat into the Slash Liger so that it throws me out when I try to pilot it."

"Fortunately, the Decalto Dragon is piloted by two people, so nobody is stupid enough to use stupid pranks. That's also why the Decalto Dragon is constantly fused." Darren explained.

"Okay, I was wondering why it was constantly fused… by the way, doesn't anyone else find it really weird how we haven't actually found any gold here?" James asked, "We should have found some by now."

"Maybe there's no gold here." Nick suggested, "Or maybe there was gold here, and somehow, the gold got eaten by something long before it could be removed from this mine."

"Maybe someone moved the gold away, and that's why we aren't finding any gold." Colin suggested, "And since there's been no sign of any thing anywhere, for all we know, there could easily continue to be no sign of any gold."

"Okay, so maybe we should search in another mine." James suggested, "I saw another mine when we were entering this one. Maybe some people should have been searching for gold there…"

Outside the mine-

"We didn't find any gold in the mine, but since there's another mine, the gold could easily be inside that one." Colin reported, after everyone in the mine had decided to leave, except for Zack.

"Although, Zack still thinks he can find some gold in that mine, despite the fact that we're all convinced that there isn't any." Colin stated, "And despite the fact that he's probably seen those signs before…"

Colin pointed to two signs. One of them, pointing to the mine they had just come out of, said 'There is no gold here', while the other said, 'I left my gold in this mine, _don't touch it_.'

"So is it the mine or the gold that we're not supposed to touch, according to that sign?" Lauren asked, "Either way, I still think it's a better idea to not try to find any gold."

"I should probably tell Zack about this." Claire said, "As far as we know he hasn't read the signs… either that, or he doesn't believe them. Anyway, there's still some chance that…"

"Maybe there is some chance of something happening, but there's also some chance that there's nothing wrong with that mine." Darren stated, "At least if Zack stays there there's some chance of him finding something."

"Well, twelve people found nothing." Claire pointed out, "So if this continues, you're increasing the chances that nobody will find anything… or the chances that some weird events will change things."

"Well, now that the weird events are over, maybe we have a better chance of something happening that doesn't involve everyone and everything dying for once." Nick suggested.

"Maybe for once nobody will act like an idiot, but just because there's a chance of it happening doesn't mean it actually will happen." Neil pointed out, "Anyway, we have to find out if there's something in the mine."

"If there is, it's probably the gold that someone left there." Lauren replied, "And if someone left the gold there, that means they probably intend to come back for it at some point in their lives."

"They should have come back for it before anything else happened." Darren stated, "More specifically, before anyone else arrived… but there's no reason to take the gold away."

"Maybe we should leave a note explaining that we moved their gold to somewhere where no body would steal it." Neil suggested, "At least then there's no chance of… anybody stealing it."

Inside second mine-

"Doesn't anyone think it's strange that someone just left gold here?" Nick asked, "When you think about it, that gold could serve many purposes, but maybe its real purpose is…"

"Maybe we just shouldn't touch it at all, and just leave it here until someone returns to take it." Neil suggested, "Although, if we take it back to the Hover Cargo, that eliminates the chance of anyone stealing it."

"Well I don't see why we need to prevent anyone from stealing it." Claire announced, as she and Zack entered the mine, "We only need to avoid stealing it, so that it won't be stolen."

"Maybe not by us, but there's still a chance that the next person who comes through here would steal it." James said, "Even though nobody would really have any motivation to come to these mines."

"But we have been searching for gold for some time now." Colin stated, "Maybe we should find the gold that was left here and take it out of here. At least then we would have gold."

"But if someone left it here, they must intend to come back and get it." James pointed out, "So we can't take it away from here... unless we're using the idea of leaving a note informing them of where it is."

"I still don't see why we need to protect the gold." Colin stated, "We can find more gold in this mine, and then we cane remove it and the gold that was left here from the mine."

"If someone left it here, they obviously don't care about it." Claire stated, "The sign they left must have been some kind of joke, or some strange way of informing everyone that there is gold here."

"Actually, since we arrived here I haven't seen any gold lying around." Neil said, "Maybe he left the sign, then came back and took his gold away, but then he forgot to remove the sign."

"That's actually possible. Maybe we should continue trying to find gold." Zack suggested.

"We already have been trying to find gold for the last several hours." James pointed out.

Outside the mine-

"At least they' have some chance of finding gold. Unfortunately, everyone with any remote idea of how to pilot the Hover Cargo has decided to search for gold, so we won't be leaving for several hours now." Lauren stated.

"Maybe we won't be leaving for some time, but at least we can watch everyone acting like idiots… even though that's been happening for ages now, and you'd think we'd be sick of it." John replied.

"I know, but thankfully, eventually they'll have to stop being stupid. They could stop by themselves, or eventually they could run into walls and knock themselves out." Lauren explained.

"Hopefully, this kind of insanity will stop before we're leaving this place." John said, "And for some reason Ted is still trying to pilot the Hover Cargo… by this time you'd think he would have realised that he can't."

Inside the mine-

"Things are getting even more boring that they were before." James said, "Our only chance now is to leave this mine while there's still a chance of finding gold, or somehow if we don't we will never find gold."

"I think you're going even more insane that you were before. I don't know why you haven't realised this, but to find gold in the mine, we actually have to be inside the mine." Colin stated.

"I forgot about that." James admitted, "But if this continues, then we'll never get out of this mine. Maybe we're not exactly trying to anyway, but we haven't found any gold in this mine since we got here."

"We've found too much gold." Colin replied, pointing to a huge mountain of gold that had somehow appeared, "Well actually, very tiny pieces of gold that we found assembled into that."

"That's definitely very different from what I expected." James said, "But at least we found some gold. But since we can't take it anywhere anyway, shouldn't we be trying to…"

"It doesn't matter. We have to get out of this cave… er, mine anyway." Cheryl pointed out, "I don't know what the reason is exactly, but according to the script we must."

"I understand." Nick agreed, "If that's true, then we really have to get out of here immediately… we should probably be trying to leave this place, despite the obvious problems."

Outside mine-

"What obvious problems were there?" James asked, "We were able to leave that mine without any difficulty. I don't even know why anyone could think we had problems leaving."

"Well technically, it could be considered a problem that we can't take very much of the gold with us." Cheryl replied, "We'll have to return to this place and remove the remaining gold."

"But what will be the point of removing gold?" John asked, "Anyway, we've been here for ages and there still hasn't been any sign of… well… anything that can help us."

"We've already blown up the machine that caused our lives to be in danger." Ian replied, "It's not as if there's going to be anything trying to kill us… well, hopefully there won't be."

"Then we're going to have to find something useful somehow." Claire stated, "Well okay, to be completely honest, we don't really _have_ to, but I get the idea it could be useful."

"Everyone, I've found something that could be important to us." Nick announced, "The demon didn't travel through the dimension warp after the python passed through it."

"So there's something else that came through the dimension warp?" Ian asked, "So basically, there's something in this area right now, and we could be killed by something here?"

"Well, actually, no." Nick announced, "I actually read these energy readings wrong. There hasn't been anything else that passed through the dimension warp and didn't go back through since then. There's been some interference at one point though."

Inside Hover Cargo, later-

"Well, we could leave at any time." James said, "But it's been proven that there's no threat from anything, and now we only need to find some way to take the gold to the Hover Cargo."

"Maybe we should." Cheryl replied, "But despite finding that gold, there's been a lot of deaths here caused by a machine that was right here at one point… well, until it got blasted apart anyway."

"So are we supposed to sit here waiting for everyone to return?" Nick asked, "So far, Carl, Karl, Ian, Ted, Lauren, Darren, John and Neil have left the Hover Cargo, and waiting for them to get back…"

"Waiting for them to get back won't help anyone… except them, I guess." James said, "Anyway, Colin and Claire are supposed to be working on something now… possibly involving piloting the Hover Cargo."

"So basically, there's no idea when everyone will get back." Louise pointed out, "And that means we're going to be here for a long time. If we hadn't blown up that machine, then…"

"The Decalto Dragon is getting closer to this place, at least." Nick reported, "I have no idea what the pilots of the Decalto Dragon are planning, but maybe they'll eventually return."

Near the mines-

As the sky began to get darker, two Command Wolves approached the mine. Carl and Karl disembarked from the Command Wolves and began to approach the remaining gold, which nobody had been able to take back to the Hover Cargo.

"We should have thought of using the Zoids before. Now we can easily take the rest of the gold back to the Hover Cargo, and then there's no reason to inform anyone that we have." Carl said.

"I don't understand why we're not explaining to them that we have the gold." Karl said, "Well, to be completely honest, I don't know what the point of keeping this secret is."

"There's fifteen people here." Carl explained, "See, basically we can keep this secret easily. They'll suspect the three people who weren't interested, thinking that at least one of them really was interested."

"I understand." Karl said, "So while this is happening, we can take this opportunity to run… well actually we need to get to the transport first, and running while we're on the transport would be stupid."

"Although, acting stupid would draw the suspicion away from us, since we would be as we normally are." Carl reasoned. Karl heard a loud thump and almost immediately heard another thump.

Karl ran over to where Carl had been, only to find him lying on the floor. Then he saw someone else approaching. This person raised something that Karl couldn't quite see and swung it towards him.

Hover Cargo, later-

"So far there's been no problem with anything, but for all we know, there could be something happening." James said, "Isn't anyone else wondering why those people with the machine went insane?"

"Well, they were probably already insane." Cheryl replied, "I think they would have to be, in order to try to invent a machine that can send people and creatures to different realities."

"At least we know that they built the machine, and they either died or ran away somewhere when they were defeated. Maybe creatures from a different reality ate them." Nick suggested.

"So basically whatever happened to them, there's really no chance of anyone building another machine." Darren realised, "Which means that there's nobody controlling things."

"If nobody's controlling things, then we have at least some chance of surviving." John said, "Wait… we've already survived because there's nothing from another reality that's still here."

"Everyone's returned except for Carl and Karl." Darren reported, "We should be able to retrieve the gold and leave now, except that they're not back. And I don't know if anyone mentioned this, but there was no gold lying around in that mine."

"Right. Ian can retrieve the gold by himself. Darren, we've piloted the Decalto Dragon before so piloting this Hover Cargo can't be hard." John said, "If everyone else searches for Carl and Karl, this will be over faster."

"I saw a building not far from here." Colin reported, "It was a stone building that looked abandoned, but basically intact. I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to investigate that place."

Near the mines-

Ian had disembarked from his Mad Thunder. After several seconds he had become irritated, however. The main problem was that there was no sign of the huge pile of gold that had been collected.

"Carl and Karl must have taken this gold." Ian said, but then he realised something, "No, it must have been someone who's already back where the carriers are. That would reduce suspicion-" A rock hit Ian's head, and he stumbled backwards.

Ian staggered towards a mine. A few seconds later another rock went flying through the air. It collided with Ian's head and he fell into the mine, falling downwards a considerable distance.

Near a large, stone building-

Ian slowly walked through the building. A large amount of the building was just one room, which Ian thought was very strange.

"Is there anyone else here?" Colin asked, but he only heard his own echoing voice, "Okay, this is getting stupid. There's nobody here, and the Warriors of Command could even have returned to the Hover Cargo."

Someone charged at Colin and he turned towards them, but he wasn't prepared when something slammed into his head.

Elsewhere in the desert-

"I don't know what's happening here, but you'd think by now we'd have seen at least some sign of Carl and Karl." Louise stated, "The Warriors of Command must be here somewhere."

"Maybe they decided that this place was too weird, so they decided to run from it." Neil suggested, "That's the only reason I can think of for why they would have left by now."

"Maybe there's another reason." Louise suggested, "Maybe the decided to move the gold from that place to somewhere inside their Command Wolves and used the Command Wolves to transport it away."

"We really should have only sent three people out here." Neil pointed out, "See, if we sent only three people, there wouldn't be all this confusion… and is it really that hard to destroy a machine?"

"Apparently not. Ian destroyed it quickly enough." Louise reasoned, "Although, this really isn't as bad as it could have been. While it won't be easy to find them, there's no threat now."

"Although, isn't there some chance that there still is a threat?" Neil asked, "After Ian blasted the dimensional device, the dimension warp should have closed, but can that really happen instantly?"

"Maybe not, but we'll have to assume that it can, because it just gives us another reason to get killed for being stupid." Louise replied, "Anyway, Nick's device didn't monitor anything coming through it."

"So far, nothing stupid has happened then." Neil realised, "And if we can get out of this desert before anything else happens, then there's really no chance of being exceptionally stupid."

"Well to be completely honest, we are already somewhat stupid, and if we stay here there's a good chance of us getting stupider." Louise reasoned, "But even if something could come through the dimension warp, we should have seen it."

Suddenly, several laser blasts tore into the Salamander. Neil was thrown around inside the cockpit and another shot struck the Salamander, knocking it to the ground. Neil fell out of the cockpit.

The Bear Fighter began firing at the direction the laser blasts had come from. Several explosions erupted, and immediately afterwards a loud crashing sound was heard. The Bear Fighter charged towards the target.

Neil disembarked from his Salamander and ran towards the target as fast as possible. When he reached it, he found that the target had been a Snipe Liger, which Cheryl was now standing outside.

"What just happened?" Neil asked. Not surprisingly, he was shocked that the Snipe Liger had been firing on him. Neil quickly realised that there must have been some kind of confusion.

"After all the weird things that happened, I saw movement and thought there was something about to attack, so I just fired on it, and it turned out there wasn't a threat." Cheryl explained.

"Well, try to take the Salamander and Snipe Liger back to the Hover Cargo." Neil suggested, "I have another idea, though… Louise, we have to find out if Carl and Karl are at the mine."

The mines-

The Bear Fighter approached the mines very slowly. Louise and Neil disembarked. They turned towards where the Command Wolves had been, but there was no sign of anyone.

"Carl, Karl and Ian have already come to this place, but there's no sign of the Zoids they pilot anywhere." Neil announced, "There has to be something else happening here."

"Maybe they got bored of piloting Zoids and made their Zoids run over a cliff." Louise suggested, "Or maybe their Zoids are somewhere close, but we haven't seen them yet."

"Maybe there's something else happening." Neil suggested, "Well, maybe there hasn't been anything that's happened recently that helped people to discover the secret of living for five seconds longer than usual, but-"

Suddenly, a rock went flying through the air. It struck Louise's head and knocked her to the ground. She was about to fall down a mine, but Neil grabbed her and prevented her from falling.

"Maybe the dimension warp has been sealed, but there's still something else happening here." Neil realised, but then he noticed that Louise had been knocked unconscious.

Neil found it very difficult for himself and Louise to both be in the cockpit of the Bear Fighter, and his inexperience at piloting it became obvious when he accidentally made it fall down a mountain.

Elsewhere, several minutes later-

A Liger Zero, Slash Liger, Gairyuki and Gojulas Giga were standing around, but the pilots had disembarked from them. Somehow, they had met with each other, despite this being extremely unlikely.

"So far, nobody found Carl, Karl and Ian, but somehow we've all run into each other." Zack said, "But I know what really happened. It's obviously because you are mental."

"I don't think that's very likely. Somehow we have met here, though." James agreed, "Nobody was following you because there's no reason any sane person, or even any insane person would want to."

"Okay, maybe assuming you followed me was stupid, but there's something happening and I have no idea what it is." Zack said, "Even though that machine's been destroyed…"

"Maybe there's something very strange happening." Lauren suggested, "That machine has been destroyed, so logically most things can't come through the dimension warp… well technically, nothing can."

"How often do you see things from other dimensions walking around and attacking people as if it's nothing different from what normally happens?" Zack asked, "There's no technicality. Nothing can get through!"

"Sometimes I've thought James could easily be from another dimension." Lauren replied, "Incidentally, he isn't. I found that to be the most surprising fact in history. Except for that time when all the wheels on the planet rolled around by themselves."

"Maybe there is something interesting happening here." James suggested, "I know, there probably isn't, but there's a slight chance that there could be. Maybe we haven't thought of something."

"Maybe we've thought of everything already, and now we're going round in circles." Ted suggested, "Although, even if that was true, we'd have found where Carl and Karl are by now."

"Maybe they went after the gold, but then again, many people have already begun searching over near the mines." Lauren said, "Anyway, if they had gone after the gold someone would have found them by now."

"There has to be something else happening, though." Zack stated, but then a Gunguyarados began to fly towards the area. It landed and for several seconds nothing happened.

"I've just found that building Colin decided to explore… but Colin is dead, someone or something killed him, and I have no idea what's going on!" Claire shouted. Everyone else didn't know how to react…

Suddenly, an undead miner began to approach from the top of a nearby hill. Although he was some distance away from everyone, the miner's flesh was clearly partially decomposed.

The miner leapt off the hill, landing on the head of the Gunguyarados. Everyone began to run towards their own Zoids, obviously worried now since they hadn't expected there to be any threat.

The miner shoved a shovel forwards. The shovel shattered the glass of the Gunguyarados pilot and struck Claire's neck. Claire was killed very quickly, as the blade passed through her neck, decapitating her.

The miner turned towards everyone else. Having seen Claire get killed brutally, they made an intelligent decision for once and decided to run. The two Ligers ran to the left while the dinosaur-based Zoids ran to the right.

Elsewhere in the desert-

The Gairyuki had left the Gojulas Giga and was running by itself now. There was no sign of anyone following it. However, Ted realised that he was about to run into a mountain, and tried to make the Gairyuki turn to one side.

However, the Gairyuki was too close to the mountain. Its left leg slammed into the side of the mountain. The Gairyuki collapsed, and Ted was knocked out of the cockpit by the impact.

Ted stood and ran to the Gairyuki. Although the leg shouldn't have been badly damaged by the impact, the armour on the front of the lower leg section had, been shattered.

"That's no sign of that miner anywhere." Ted realised, "They have repair devices back at the Hover Cargo. Repairing the Gairyuki shouldn't be hard." Ted immediately realised one problem with this plan.

"In order to get back to the Hover Cargo… I have to walk across the desert… with that miner still chasing people." Ted realised. Suddenly he heard a noise, and when he turned he saw a pickaxe flying towards him.

Another part of the desert-

The Gojulas Giga hadn't run into any mountains. Although Lauren was no less terrified than the other three people who had seen the zombie miner, she was still barely capable of not running into a mountain.

However, several relatively large rocks had been positioned in front of the Gojulas Giga. It ran into then, and knocked itself over, completely crushing one side of its head.

Lauren began to climb out of the shattered cockpit, but she heard someone approaching her. Despite being shaken by the impact, she turned, in time to see someone raising a pickaxe…

Hover Cargo-

Fortunately, James and Zack had managed to return to the Hover Cargo without running into the miner. They also hadn't seen any sign of any of the others while running, but when they got back, Nick had already returned.

"I don't know why you're so terrified, but I've failed to find anyone." Nick announced, "When you think about it, that's really strange. I really can't see how I can fly over the desert and see nobody."

"Maybe, but there's some kind of homicidal dead guy running around outside!" Zack shouted, "We met some of the others, and then Claire got killed by this zombie guy, and now…"

"Did anyone else return to this place?" James asked, "Some of the others ran from that zombie guy when we saw him, but they decided to run in another direction. Then again, they would have had to run past him if they didn't."

"Well, when I got here, Cheryl was already here." Nick said, "Apparently, she somehow shot Neil's Salamander, so she had to bring it to the Hover Cargo so it could be repaired."

"I'm confused here… why wouldn't Neil be able to pilot his own Salamander?" James asked, before realising, "Actually, if a Salamander had to _walk_, it would be really slow."

"Anyway, John and Darren are also here." Nick explained, "Apparently, they've been trying to figure out how to pilot this thing for several hours now. I don't know why this is happening, but maybe…"

James noticed the zombie miner walking towards the Hover Cargo, although he was still possibly several hundred feet away. Despite this, James remembered what had happened to Claire with the Gunguyarados.

"That's weird; there really is a zombie miner guy!" Nick shouted, "Maybe the interference was him gaining life force from the dimension warp or something." Nick turned, running towards the weapons turret controls.

The hover Cargo began to turn towards the miner. Somehow, Darren and John had managed to find a way to pilot the Hover Cargo. It began to speed towards the miner… well; maybe 'speed' isn't the best word.

The miner leapt into the air, presumably attempting to land on the head of the Hover Cargo. However, this time, Nick fired the cannons on the turret. The miner was hit hard and fell towards the ground…

The miner didn't hit the ground, because the Hover Cargo slammed into him while he was still three feet off the ground. The impact sent him flying and the Hover Cargo shot him in mid-air again, sending him flying out of sight.

Hover Cargo, several hours later-

"We've offloaded the gold." James reported, "Maybe the gold was the reason he attacked us. Anyway, we've thrown it into a mine and now there's no sign of anyone approaching us."

"If nobody's approaching us, how would you explain that?" Cheryl asked, pointing to a radar device that indicated something approaching the Hover Cargo at high speed, but couldn't give a visual image.

"Well I don't know what's happening, but I'm guessing that somehow that miner is charging towards us." Nick stated, "And now he's preparing to kill us with a pickaxe that can somehow penetrate anything."

"Well, maybe he isn't running towards us." John suggested, "Didn't it occur to you that that thing that's showing up on the radar has been detected by radar, which means its metal?"

"Yes, but that guy had a pickaxe." Nick said, "For all we know, the metal parts of that pickaxe could be activating the radar, which in turn is showing us exactly where he is, and he happens to be running towards us!"

"Well at any rate, he's closing in really fast." Darren announced, "So if you're going to make an attempt to stop him, you're going to have to think of something really fast."

James opened the door, expecting the miner to be waiting to strike, but instead he saw the Bear fighter standing next to the Hover Cargo. Neil and Louise disembarked from the Bear Fighter's cockpit.

"Louise got knocked out at some point and I had to pilot the Bear Fighter even though I really don't know how to." Neil reported, "Anyway, that's why we couldn't get back here."

"Well as long as everyone who's still alive returned…" James said, trying to think of how to finish the sentence, "… since you've been near the mines, I'm assuming you haven't seen Carl, Karl or Ian."

"Unfortunately, it looks like they all died." Neil replied, "Their Zoids were nowhere in sight either. Maybe whoever killed them moved the Zoids elsewhere, or maybe they fell into a third, giant mine."

"Then I guess we have no choice but to rebuild the Crusade Team. I guess from this point onwards, there's only going to be one team from this town." Cheryl informed everyone.

Nobody had any objections and the Hover Cargo soon began to head back towards the town. After all the events that had happened, everyone knew that they shouldn't have a problem working as a team in the future…

Near the mines-

Ian slowly began to stand. As he stood, he realised that he could barely remember anything that had happened since he fell into the mine. For some reason his head didn't hurt despite being hit with rocks.

"Is anyone there? If there's someone there, I really need you help to get out of this place!" Ian shouted. After a few seconds he heard footsteps, but then he saw a pickaxe flying towards him…


End file.
